〈 1．（of watch or clock）slow down or stop（鐘表）走慢或不走 〉
*The kitchen clock ran down because we forgot to wind it．廚房裡的鐘停了，因為我們忘了上發條。
2．speak ill of；criticize unkindly貶低；不客氣地批評
*She is jealous of your success；that's why she's always running you down．她嫉妒你的成功，這就是她總是講你壞話的原因。
*He will flatter a person to his face， and then run him down behind his back．他會當面吹捧一個人，而在背後卻造謠中傷。
*That man doesn't like me ；he's always running me down．那人不喜歡我，他總是誹謗我。
3． chase and catch 追捕
*The police were able to run the jewel thieves down after a long search．警察經過長時間搜查，終于抓獲了盜竊珠寶的小偷。
*After hunting for him for over a week，the police ran the escaped prisoner down in a public house．在追捕了一個多星期後，警察終于在一家酒店裡捉住了逃犯。
4． knock down and hurt撞傷
*The poor boy has been run down by a bus．這個可憐的男孩子被汽車撞傷了。
*She was afraid she would run someone down while driving．她害怕在開車時撞傷人。
5．ill；in poor health or condition 體力衰弱；身體垮掉
*Father caught a cold because he was run down from loss of sleep．父親由于缺乏睡眠，體力衰弱而感冒了。
*The old worker was run down after all those years of hard work．這位老工人因多年辛勤勞動而身體垮下來了。
*His health ran down to a dangerous level．他的健康狀況已惡化到危險的程度。
6．find by hard and thorough search； trace the source of追根究底；探出…的根源
*The policeman ran down proof that the burglar had robbed the store．警察追查小偷搶店鋪的證據。
*He had quite a time running down the technical words．他為查出這些術語的來源花了相當多的時間。
7．（cause to） diminish in number，quantity，size，etc．減少；縮小；降低
*The coal industry is running down as coal deposits are used up．由于煤藏枯竭，煤炭工業正在衰落。
*The farm labor force in this country is running down steadily．這個國家的農業勞動力正持續減少。
8． slowly bring to a halt使慢慢地停止
*The management are running this factory down．管理部門正在慢慢使這個工廠停產。
*run errands act as an errandboy；go to a store to buy things for sb．跑腿；為別人辦事；買東西
*I have no time to run errands for you．我沒時間替你跑腿。Rufus runs errands for all the neighbours．魯福斯為所有的鄰居跑腿買東西。
(TTS發音)
