run out

verb

ran out; run out; running out; runs out

intransitive verb

1

a

: to come to an end : expire

time ran out

b

: to become exhausted or used up

the gasoline ran out

2

: to jut out

transitive verb

1

a

: to finish out (a course, a series, a contest, etc.) : complete

b

of a baseball batter : to run hard to first base after hitting (a batted ball)

ran out the grounder

2

a

: to fill out (a typeset line) with quads, leaders, or ornaments

b

: to set (a line of text, such as the first line of a paragraph) with a hanging indention

3

: to exhaust (oneself) in running

4

: to cause to leave by force or coercion : expel

Phrases

run out of

: to use up the available supply of

ran out of time

run out on

: desert

Examples of run out in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

But the publication lasted only a few issues because de Jong ran out of money to continue printing it. —Alex Greenberger, ARTnews.com, 1 July 2024

At that point, time was quickly running out for England. —George Ramsay, CNN, 30 June 2024

Medicare Current projections show Medicare running out of funds by 2036, and its solvency came up throughout the debate. —Dan Diamond, Washington Post, 28 June 2024

Some 2,000 years ago – when nothing was good, food was running out, and bison were disappearing – White Buffalo Calf Woman appeared and presented a bowl pipe and a bundle to a tribal member and said the pipe could be used to bring buffalo to the area for food. —Amy Beth Hanson and Mead Gruver, The Christian Science Monitor, 28 June 2024

Word History

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at intransitive sense 1a

Kids Definition

run out

verb

1

: to come to an end : expire

time ran out before we could tie the game

2

: to become exhausted or used up

our supplies were running out