run after

English

Verb

run after (third-person singular simple present runs after, present participle running after, simple past ran after, past participle run after)

1. To follow quickly, often in an effort to catch or catch up with (someone or something).

   That dog will get hurt if he continues to run after cars.

   • c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     I saw him run after a gilded butterfly: and when he caught it, he let it go again;

   • 1854, Charles Dickens, chapter 1, in Hard Times. For These Times, London: Bradbury & Evans, , →OCLC, book the first (Sowing), page 5:

     ‘Why are you tearing about the streets,’ said Mr. Gradgrind, ‘in this improper manner?’
     ‘I was—I was run after, sir,’ the girl panted, ‘and I wanted to get away.’

   • 2006, Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Wizard of the Crow, New York: Knopf, Book 1, p. 36,

     the sun and dust were not anymore merciful; not to speak of the police who sometimes chased them, suspecting them of being beggars, and tourists who ran after them with cameras, taking them to be holy beggars.

2. To make a determined effort to win someone's affections or to have a sexual relationship with them.

   She runs after any man in uniform!

   • 1791, Samuel Johnson, quoted in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, p. 265,

     if a young man is wild, and must run after women and bad company, it is better this should be done abroad, as, on his return, he can break off such connections, and begin at home a new man

   • 1861, George Eliot, Silas Marner‎, Part 2, Chapter 17:

     […] if it had pleased God to make you ugly, like me, so as the men wouldn’t ha’ run after you, we might have kept to our own family, and had nothing to do with folks as have got uneasy blood in their veins.

   • 1956, James Baldwin, Giovanni’s Room‎, New York: Dial, Part 2, Chapter 3, p. 154:

     He said I was a gangster and a thief and a dirty little street boy and the only reason I ran after him—I ran after him—was because I intended to rob him one night.

3. To endeavour to find or obtain.
   • 1762, Oliver Goldsmith, The Citizen of the World‎, London, Volume 1, Letter 62, p. 284:

     […] now, while I stick to my good friends here, I am very contented; but when I ever so little run after sights and fine things, I begin to hate my work, I grow sad, and have no heart to mend shoes any longer.

   • 1831, Abraham John Valpy, Locke’s Essay on the Human Understanding Condensed by a Clergyman, London: Whitaker, Treacher, and Arnot, “Conduct of the Understanding,” p. 409,

     The letting the mind run after similes, though it may be useful for the explaining our thoughts to others, yet is by no means so for settling true notions of any thing in ourselves;

   • 1875, Anthony Trollope, chapter 40, in The Way We Live Now, London: Chapman and Hall, :

     By-the-bye, Montague, if you’d like to come to the dinner, I’ve got a ticket I can let you have. You know how they’re run after.

   • 1978, Andrew Holleran, chapter 7, in Dancer from the Dance‎, New York: Bantam, page 168:

     “But I have all the things money can’t buy,” he wailed to the waiting moon, the whores clustering at the soda counter, “charm, taste, a curious mind. Why run after gelt? […] ”

4. (obsolete) To seek the company or assistance of; to frequent; to consult (someone).
   • 1550, Otto Werdmüller, chapter 28, in Miles Coverdale, transl., A Spyrytuall and Moost Precyouse Pearle‎, London: Gwalter Lynne:

     And thus he is so poysoned w[i]t[h] bitternes and obstinacy that he begynneth to hate and to blaspheme God in heauen and seketh vnlaufull meanes to helpe and remedye hym self, lyke as Saul dyd, runnynge after wytches and sothsaiers,

   • 1722, Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year‎, page 36:

     So, they were as mad, upon their running after Quacks, and Mountebanks, and every practising old Woman, for Medicines and Remedies […]

   • 1790, Richard Cumberland, The Observer‎, volume 5, number 129, London: C. Dilly, page 38:

     […] she was not a little fond of running after conjurors and deaf and dumb fortune tellers, who dealt in figures and cast nativities […]

   • 1800, Charles Dibdin, chapter 6, in A Complete History of the English Stage‎, volume 2, London, page 304:

     The only evil to be apprehended from this was the increase of actors, and the inclination of the public to run after them.

5. (obsolete) To seek to participate in, devote oneself to (something).
   • 1607, Arthur Dent, The Plaine Mans Path-Way to Heauen‎, London: Edward Bishop, page 332:

     They will not be ruled by God, nor bridled by his word. They wil follow their owne swinge. They will run after their owne lusts and pleasures.

   • 1685, John Bunyan, The Doctrine of the Law and Grace Unfolded‎, London: Nath. Ponder, page 95:

     […] if they could pray better, and keep their hearts more from running after sin, then they could believe;

   • 1693, [John Locke], “(please specify the section number)”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: A and J Churchill, , →OCLC, page 257:

     Their Thoughts run after Play and Pleasure; wherein, they take it as a lessening, to be controul’d;

Usage notes

All senses apart from sense 1 usually have a negative connotation.

Synonyms

• (all senses): pursue
• (follow quickly; try to win someone's affection): chase

Translations