DCHP-1 Online

run ((v.))

• 1 v. navigate a rapids, riffle, etc. in a canoe, boat, or raft.

  See also: shoot ((v.)) (def. 1)  

  • 1781  (1934)  The Canadians run this fall down, enter on the south side and cross directly to the north.
  • 1869  The Prince "ran the Slides," visited the Upper Ottawa, and enjoyed a few days hunting. . . .
  • 1965  Occasional portaging is the price paid for the fun of running rapids.

• 2 v. Hist. take part in a buffalo run (def. 1).

  See also: buffalo run (def. 1)  runner ((1)) (def. 2)  

  • 1765  (1933)  I Have Sean them [ponies] Run [buffalo] with those of Natrall Nostrals and Cumin Apearantley Not the Least Out of Breath.
  • 1820  (1823)  Mr. Heriot, to shew us the mode of hunting on horseback, or as the traders term it, running of the buffalo, went in chase of a cow, and killed it after firing three shots.
  • 1963  There could be no room for selfish individualism when the métis ran the buffalo. . . .

• 3 v. Lumbering move or transport logs from the cutting area by skidding, driving, towing, etc.

  • 1847  (1945)  In 1847 the firm advanced to Allan Edgar four cents per cubic foot on a lot of timber which was "to run to Bellevile," down the Moira River; it was to be rafted and sold on the same terms as the Grant lot of the year before.
  • 1958  Trees were chosen to be felled that could be run to the water without too much difficulty.
  • 1961  Running and guiding the logs down the rapids was a very dangerous business in the days before the construction of the slides and runways.

• 4a † v. put forward (as a candidate); endorse.

  • 1844  The Tories could not run a single candidate, but are forced to give their support to one of the two Reformers, in three of the Wards.
  • 1860  When the poll closed two of the high priests of the H.B. Company expressed great regret that they had not attempted to run three candidates, instead of two.
  • 1958  In the provincial election of 1898 they ran Ralph Smith . . . as an independent labor candidate . . . in Nanaimo and elected him. . . .

• 4b † v. stand for public office; enter an election as a candidate.

  • 1851  Why not bring out a second progressive Reformer Candidate to run with Mr. O'Neill?
  • 1958  Ralph Walker . . . said Monday he is considering running for leader of the provincial Liberals.

• 5 v. function as a forerunner.

  See also: forerunner  runner ((1)) (def. 3)  

  • 1893  One Night, Sowanas . . . complained of a swelling in one of his knees which made it impossible for him to keep running ahead of the trains at the rapid rate we wished to travel.
  • 1896  (1898)  On the following day, the tenth from Grand Rapids, as Aleck was able to run again, I occupied the cariole myself.

• 6 v. of animals, be abundant at a special time.

  See also: run ((n.)) (def. 6)  

  • 1921  On some rounds, particularly in November and March, when fur is running, he will do better; on others not so well.

• 7 v. follow a trapline (def. 1) to gather the catch, check and reset the traps, etc.

  See also: trapline (def. 1)  

  • 1913  He said that he and partner, the murdered man, had been met by Charley Seguis while running their trap-line. . . .
  • 1956  His father had mushed the dogs out to Pitchpine for supplies, and he had offered to run the line by himself.
  • 1966  They prefer to trap a small area to extinction and then move their tent to a new area and begin all over, rather than run a lone line and move their traps frequently during the season.

• 8 v. run one's face, buy on credit.

  See also: jawbone  

  • 1870  Thy equals to obtain/I know not way, nor place/ Unless to cloth my legs,/I run my face.

• 9 † v. run ice, of rivers, choked with running ice.

  See also: running ice  

  • 1897  (1908)  The channel of open water to the north was running full of heavy ice, making it quite impossible to use the boat.
  • 1960  . . . the best hunting is in the fall when the Mackenzie is running ice, ruling out the possibility of a crossing.