1889. Bird o' Freedom, 7 Aug., 3. Stewart made the running so fast that I couldn't see the way he went.
1892. Tit-Bits, 17 Sep., 423, 2. There is a striking variation in the periods at which women retire from the running, if we may be permitted to make use of a sporting phrase in speaking of such a subject.
Adj. (old).—Hasty.
1601. Shakspeare, Henry VIII., i. 4. Had the Cardinal But half my lay thoughts in him, some of these Should find a running banquet ere they rested. Ibid., v. 4, 69. There they are like to dance these three days; besides the running banquet of two beadles that is to come.
Prep. (old).—Approaching; going on for: cf. rising.
17[?]. Laird of Wariestoun [Child, Ballads, iii. 112]. I hae been your gud wife These nine years, running ten.
Running-glasier, subs. phr.
(old).—A thief: a sham glazier.
Running-horse, subs. phr. (old).—A
clap (q.v.); a gleet (Grose).
Running-leather. To have
shoes of running leather,
verb. phr. (common).—To be
given to rambling.
Running- (or flying) patterer
(or stationer), subs. phr. (old).—A
hawker of ballads, dying-speeches,
newspapers, and books:
cf. pinner-up (B. E., and Grose).
1851-61. Mayhew, London Lab., I. 228. The latter include the running patterers, or death-hunters; being men (no women) engaged in vending last dying speeches and confessions.
1864. Hotten, Slang Dict., s.v. Running stationer. Persons of this class formerly used to run, blowing a horn. Nowadays . . . these peripatetic newsmen bawl in quiet London thoroughfares, to the disturbance of the residents.
Running-rumble. See Rumbler.
Running-smobble, subs. phr.
(old).—'Snatching goods off a
counter, and throwing them to an
accomplice, who brushes off with
them' (Grose).
Running-snavel, subs. phr. (old).—A
thief whose speciality is the
kinchin-lay (q.v.): see
Snaffle.
Runt, subs. (old).—A term of contempt:
specifically of an old
woman. Whence runty = surly;
boorish. Also a short, squat man
or woman [cf. Welsh runts =
small cattle].
1614. Fletcher, Wit without Money, v. 2. Before I buy a bargain of such runts, I'll buy a college for bears, and live among 'em.
1711. Addison, Spectator, No. 108. This overgrown runt has struck off his heels, lowered his foretop, and contracted his figure, that he might be looked upon as a member of this newly erected Society [The Short Club].
1721. Centlivre, Artifice, iii. This city spoils all servants: I took a Welsh runt last spring.
1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, 115. 'No indeed,' ses another little runty-lookin' feller—we've got enuff to do to take care of our own babys in these diggins.
Run-to-seed, phr. (colloquial).—Pregnant;
in pod (q.v.).
Ruof, adj. (back slang).—Four.
Rural, subs. (old colloquial).—A
rustic.
1604. Middleton, Father Hubbard's Tales. Amongst rurals verse is scarcely found.
1656. Ford, Sun's Darling, ii. Beckon the Rurals in; the Country-gray Seldom ploughs treason.
To do a rural, verb. phr. (common).—To ease oneself in the open: cf. to pluck a rose.
