# runner
## English
### Etymology

From Middle English rennere, rynner, urnare, equivalent to run +‎ -er. Cognate with Old Norse rennari (“runner; messenger”). Displaced earlier Middle English runel (“runner”), from Old English rynel (“runner”; also “messenger, courier”).

### Pronunciation

* (General American) IPA: /ˈɹʌnɚ/
* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈɹʌnə/
* Audio (General Australian):(file)
* Rhymes: -ʌnə(ɹ)
* Hyphenation: run‧ner

### Noun

runner (plural runners)
* Agent noun of run; one who runs.
** A person who moves, on foot, at a fast pace, especially an athlete.
    The first runner to cross the finish line wins the race.
    Near-synonym: racer
** Any entrant, person or animal (especially a horse), for a race or any competition; a candidate for an election.
    The mare is the stables' runner for the 5.15 race at Epsom.
    The judge said she would not be a runner in the upcoming elections.
** (poker slang) A competitor in a poker tournament.
** Somebody who controls or manages (e.g. a system).
*** 1998 June 12, Daniel Jonathan Kirk, “tipping competitions”, in aus.legal (Usenet):[…] at least half of which would be put into the pool for the winner, the rest kept for the runners of the system to cover costs and more than likely make a fair profit.
** A person or vessel that runs blockades or engages in smuggling. (Especially used in combination, e.g. gunrunner).
*** 1992, Hamendar Bhisham Pal, The Plunder of Art, page 75:The modus operandi used by the idol and antique runners is to order consignments of fakes.
** (cricket) A player who runs for a batsman who is too injured to run; he is dressed exactly as the injured batsman, and carries a bat.
** (baseball, softball) A baserunner.
    The runner was out at second.
** (Australian rules football) A person (from one or the other team) who runs out onto the field during the game to take verbal instructions from the coach to the players. A runner mustn't interfere with play, and may have to wear an identifying shirt to make clear his or her purpose on the field.
** Anyone sent on an errand or with communications, especially for a bank (or, historically, a foot soldier responsible for carrying messages during war).
*** 1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 242:By 1963, Carmine was working as a "runner" for an accounting firm, and he would drop by 1619 Broadway to knock on doors in hopes of selling off some of his songs
** A restaurant employee responsible for taking food from the kitchens to the tables.
*** 1897 June 19, “The Jubilee Waiters. Some Words with the Maître d’Hôtel.”, in The Daily News, number 15,984, London, →OCLC, page 2, column 6:“Then you divide your army amongst the various houses where restorations are ordered for Jubilee day?” / “Certainly—say one waiter to ten guests—if it was a dinner we should send one waiter to six guests—with runners, of course.” / “Runners?” / “Omnibuses you call them here—young ones—apprentices—who wait on the waiters.” / “Run everywhere, do anything?”
*** 1989, Caterer & Hotelkeeper (volume 180, page 83)
    […] the chef can send a runner to see why not and if the waiter has forgotten about the order, a runner can cover and serve.
** (US, dated) A trusty (prisoner granted special privileges).
*** 1959, Frederick S. Baldi, My Unwelcome Guests, page 25:In our prisons you might find a condemned man working as a runner, a trusty, which is about as far from segregation as you can get.
** (sports slang) An employee of a sports agent who tries to recruit possible player clients for the agent.
*** Freeman, Mike (2012 February 25) “Runners' world: Union boss Smith's noble idea likely stuck at the start”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name)‎, CBSSports.com, retrieved March 19, 2014
    This week hundreds of NFL agents gathered to hear an honorable man talk about a noble pipedream. It was a discussion about a significant step to end one of the cornerstones of corruption in college football: runners. Not the backs getting their 40 times tested at the scouting combine but the slimeball trolls who work on behalf of agents to help recruit — a generous word — football prospects by illegally giving them cash (or cars or money for family members or rent for a nice house) so the player then signs with the agent upon turning pro.
** A person hired by a gambling establishment to locate potential customers and bring them in.
    Synonyms: lugger, picker-up, roper, steerer
** One who runs away; a deserter or escapee.
** (film) An assistant. (clarification of this definition is needed)
* (slang, usually in the phrase 'do a runner') A quick escape away from a scene.
    He did a runner after robbing the drugstore.
* (Australia, Canada, Ireland, Scotland) A type of soft-soled shoe originally intended for runners.
    Synonyms: sneaker, trainer
* Part of a shoe that is stitched to the bottom of the upper so it can be glued to the sole.
* A part of an apparatus that moves quickly.
    After the cycle completes, the runner travels back quickly to be in place for the next cycle.
* A mechanical part intended to guide or aid something else to move (using wheels or sliding).
** A smooth strip on which a sledge runs.
** The blade of an ice skate.
** The channel or strip on which a drawer is opened and closed.
** Part of a mechanism which allows something to be pulled out for maintenance.
*** 1962 June, “Beyond the Channel: U.S.S.R.: A 3,000 h.p. diesel-hydraulic from MaK”, in Modern Railways, page 416:Maintenance was simplified by making all components easily accessible and easy to remove: for example, the air compressors in the short nose slide out on runners.
** The curved base of a rocking chair.
    Synonym: rocker
** In saddlery, a loop of metal through which a rein is passed.
** In molding, a channel cut in a mold.
** The rotating-stone of a grinding-mill.
** The movable piece to which the ribs of an umbrella are attached.
** A tool in which lenses are fastened for polishing.
* (slang) An automobile; a working or driveable automobile.
    The car salesman told me that the used Volvo was a nice little runner.
    Is that old Mercedes on the forecourt a runner? / No, it has no gearbox.
* A strip of fabric used to decorate or protect a table or dressing table.
    The red runner makes the table so festive.
* A long, narrow carpet for a high traffic area such as a hall or stairs.
    How about we put down a clear runner in the front hall.
* (slang) A part of a cigarette that is burning unevenly.
* (botany) A long stolon sent out by a plant (such as strawberry), in order to root new plantlets, or a plant that propagates by using such runners.
* (climbing) A short sling with a carabiner on either end, used to link the climbing rope to a bolt or other protection such as a nut or friend.
* A leaping food fish (Elagatis pinnulatis) of Florida and the West Indies; the skipjack, shoemaker, or yellowtail.
* (nautical, sailing) A rope to increase the power of a tackle.
* (video games) A speedrunner.
* An idea or plan that has potential to be adopted or put into operation.
    This idea isn't a runner. Let's not waste any more time on it.
* A running gag.
** 7 December 2021, Jesse Hassenger, “Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence cope with disaster in the despairing satire Don’t Look Up”, in AV Club‎:Don’t Look Up jabs around omnidirectionally, and some of the most gleefully ridiculous jokes land: There’s an inspired runner about an increasingly scandal-plagued Supreme Court nominee, for example, and another in which politicians and voters alike absurdly declare their allegiance to “the jobs the comet will bring.”
** 2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time‎:The fairy-tale promise of love and intimacy became a runner in Swift’s work as a songwriter, something she’d repeatedly espouse, then skewer; she was self-aware about the role narrative played in her expectations.
* A streamlet.
** 1927, Henry Williamson, Tarka the Otter:A runner, or streamlet, from other woods joined it at this end, and waited in the pool to pass through the grating to the mills.
* A boat for transporting fish, oysters, etc.

#### Synonyms

* (climbing, a short sling): quick-draw, extender

#### Derived terms

* base runner
* bladerunner
* blockade runner
* bookrunner
* bull runner
* circle runner
* cloudrunner
* conrunner
* designated runner
* do a runner
* dope-runner
* drug runner
* endless runner
* fell runner
* footrunner
* fore-runner
* forerunner
* free runner
* front-runner
* frontrunner
* front runner
* gag runner
* ghost runner
* hit-and-runner
* Indian Runner
* invisible runner
* jayrunner
* kite runner
* logrunner
* midnight runner
* non-runner
* nonrunner
* parkrunner
* pinch runner
* plug the runner
* racerunner
* rainbow runner
* rat runner
* ridge-runner
* river runner
* river-runner
* roadrunner
* rockrunner
* rope runner
* route runner
* rumrunner
* rum-runner
* rum runner
* runner bean
* runnerless
* runner poison
* runner-runner
* runners and riders
* runner's knee
* runner up
* runner-up
* scarlet runner
* showrunner
* soak the runner
* stonerunner
* torch runner
* treerunner
* tree runner
* ultrarunner
* underrunner
* waverunner
* wave-runner
* wave runner

#### Translations
## Italian
### Etymology

Borrowed from English runner.

### Noun

runner m or f by sense (invariable)
* runner (person who runs)
    Synonym: corridore

### Noun

runner m (invariable)
* runner (strip of fabric)
    Synonym: tovaglia

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from English runner.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈraneɾ/ [ˈra.neɾ]
* Rhymes: -aneɾ

### Noun

runner m or f by sense (plural runners or runner)
* runner (person who runs)