runner

UK: /ˈrʌnə^r/ US: /ˈrʌnɚ/ ,(run′ər)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2025

run•ner /ˈrʌnɚ/   n. [countable]

1. a person, animal, or thing that runs, esp. as a racer.
2. a messenger, esp. of a bank or brokerage house.
3. Sport [Baseball.] a player on base or trying to reach a base.
4. Sport [Football.] the ball-carrier.
5. a smuggler.
6. Transport either of the long, bladelike strips of metal or wood on which a sled or sleigh slides.
7. the blade of an ice skate.
8. Textiles a long, narrow rug.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2025

run•ner  (run′ər), n. 

1. a person, animal, or thing that runs, esp. as a racer.
2. a messenger.
3. a messenger of a bank or brokerage house.
4. Sport [Baseball.] See base runner. 
5. Sport [Football.] the ball-carrier.
6. a person whose business it is to solicit patronage or trade.
7. a person acting as collector, agent, or the like, for a bank, broker, etc.
8. something in or on which something else runs or moves.
9. Transport either of the long, bladelike strips of metal or wood on which a sled or sleigh slides.
10. the blade of an ice skate.
11. Hydraulics the rotating system of blades driven by the fluid passing through a reaction turbine.
12. the rotating member of a pair of millstones. Cf. bed stone. 
13. a roller on which something moves along.
14. Furniture
    • a sliding piece, as a loper.
    • rocker (def. 1).
15. an operator or manager, as of a machine.
16. a long, narrow rug, suitable for a hall or passageway.
17. a long, narrow strip of line, embroidery, lace, or the like, placed across a table.
18. [Bot.]
    • Botany a slender stolon that runs along the surface of the ground and sends out roots and leaves at the nodes, as in the strawberry.
    • Botany a plant that spreads by such stems.
19. Metallurgy any of the channels through which molten metal flows.
20. a smuggler.
21. a vessel engaged in smuggling.
22. Games a person who takes, transmits, and often pays off bets for a bookmaker or a numbers pool.
23. Fish [Ichthyol.] a jurel, Caranx crysos, inhabiting waters from Cape Cod to Brazil.
24. Building a horizontal longitudinal timber resting upon the uprights of a staging and supporting the footing pieces.
25. Show Business [Theat.] a piece of carpet or matting placed in the wings for deadening offstage sounds.
26. Mechanical Engineering a tackle or part of a tackle consisting of a line rove through a single block and fixed at one end. See diag. under tackle. 

• 1250–1300; Middle English; see run, -er¹

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

runner / ˈrʌnə/ noun

1. a person who runs, esp an athlete
2. a messenger for a bank or brokerage firm
3. a person engaged in the solicitation of business
4. a person on the run; fugitive
5. a person or vessel engaged in smuggling; smuggler
6. (in combination): a rum-runner
7. a person who operates, manages, or controls something
8. either of the strips of metal or wood on which a sledge runs
9. the blade of an ice skate
10. a roller or guide for a sliding component
11. a slender stem with very long internodes, as of the strawberry, that arches down to the ground and propagates by producing roots and shoots at the nodes or tip
12. a plant that propagates in this way
13. a strip of lace, linen, etc, placed across a table, dressing table, etc, for protection and decoration
14. another word for rocker3
15. do a runner ⇒ to run away in order to escape trouble or to avoid paying for something