Definition

1. Intransitive Verb:

   • To become used up or exhausted: To reach the point where there is no more of something left; to be completely consumed or depleted.
   • To expire, to come to an end: To reach the end of a period of validity or duration.
   • To flow or leak out: For a liquid or substance to escape from a container.
   • To leave hastily or abruptly: To depart suddenly.

2. Transitive Verb (with of):

   • To exhaust the supply of something: To use all of a particular resource so that none remains.

Usage

• Intransitive Verb: Used to describe a resource becoming exhausted, a period ending, or a liquid escaping.
• Transitive Phrasal Verb (run out of): Used with an object to specify what has been exhausted. The structure is .

Examples

• Intransitive Verb:

  • Our food supplies will run out in three days. (The supplies will be completely gone.)
  • The contract runs out at the end of the month. (The contract's validity period ends.)
  • Water ran out from the cracked pipe. (Water flowed/leaked from the pipe.)

• Transitive Phrasal Verb (run out of):

  • We ran out of milk, so I need to go to the store. (We used all the milk; we have no milk left.)
  • The car ran out of gas on the highway. (The car used all its fuel.)

Advanced Usage

• "to run out on someone": To abandon or desert someone, especially in a difficult situation.
  • He ran out on his family when they needed him most.
• "to run out of steam": To lose energy, enthusiasm, or momentum.
  • The project started well but ran out of steam after a few months.

Variants and Related Words

• Runout (noun): A slight error in the shape of a rotating object, causing it to wobble. (This is a compound noun, distinct from the phrasal verb).
• Running out (gerund/noun phrase): The process or instance of something becoming exhausted.
  • The running out of the clock ended the game.

Synonyms

• Intransitive (be used up): Be exhausted, be depleted, be spent, give out.
• Transitive (use up): Exhaust, deplete, consume, finish.
• Expire: End, terminate, lapse.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Run down: To gradually lose power or deteriorate; to criticize.
  • The battery ran down. (Became exhausted.)
• Run over: To overflow; to hit with a vehicle.
  • The bathwater ran over. (Flowed out.)

Related Idioms

• The clock is running out: Time is nearly finished.
  • We need to decide quickly; the clock is running out.
• Run out of road: To have no more options or opportunities left.
  • After the failed investment, the company finally ran out of road.

Verb

1. use up all one's strength and energy and stop working
   • At the end of the march, I pooped out
2. prove insufficient
   • The water supply for the town failed after a long drought
3. exhaust the supply of
   • We ran out of time just as the discussion was getting interesting
4. flow, run or fall out and become lost
   • The milk spilled across the floor
   • The wine spilled onto the table
5. lose validity
   • My passports expired last month
6. leave suddenly and as if in a hurry
   • The listeners bolted when he discussed his strange ideas
   • When she started to tell silly stories, I ran out
7. flow off gradually
   • The rain water drains into this big vat
8. become used up; be exhausted
   • Our supplies finally ran out