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

The Yankees reliever became frustrated when the 23-year-old didn’t run out a comebacker to the mound late in the game. —Gary Phillips, New York Daily News, 29 June 2025

Weather conditions in Charlotte forced a near-two-hour-delay to Chelsea’s round-of-16 clash with Benfica on Saturday evening before the Premier League team ran out 4-1 winners in extra time. —Oliver Kay, New York Times, 28 June 2025

Unlike other daytime dramas that have lasted for decades (think General Hospital, The Young and the Restless, Days of Our Lives and The Bold and the Beautiful at present), series creator Dan Curtis felt the show had run out of fresh story ideas. —Marc Berman, Forbes.com, 27 June 2025

When morphine and anesthetics ran out, the French doctors operated on conscious patients. —Amy Sohn, Smithsonian Magazine, 27 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

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

Rhymes for run out

• about
• bailout
• blackout
• blowout
• breakout
• burnout
• buyout
• checkout
• closeout
• cutout
• devout
• dropout

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