rummy[“r@mi] 1. n. a drunkard; an alco-
holic; an alcoholic hobo. Ask that
rummy to leave before he throws up.
There is a rummy at the door asking for a
handout. 2. mod. alcohol intoxicated.
She’s rummy, and she’s going to be sick.
Who’s the rummy old girl? How long
does it take a heavy drinker like Bob to get
rummy? 3. mod. habitually confused and
inept. I get more rummy as I grow older.
That rummy old man is here again.
rump 1. n. the hindquarters; the buttocks;
the posterior. He fell on his rump.
A dog doesn’t have much rump. 2. tv. to
flog someone on the buttocks. They
rumped him and made him run around
the frat house. I’m going to get rumped
when my dad gets home.
rumpus[“r@mp@s] n. a commotion.
Please don’t make such a rumpus. There
was quite a rumpus in Jim’s room.
rumpus roomn. a family recreation room.
(Old but still heard.) Our rumpus room
has a pool table. If you kids are going
to play rough, you’ll have to go down to the
rumpus room.
run 1. n. a session or period of time spent
doing something; a period of time when
something happens. The market had a
good run today. We all have enjoyed a
good run of luck. Bart takes ampheta-
mines and was on a run all week. A run
like that can kill. 2. tv. to transport con-
traband, alcohol, or drugs. Max used
to run booze during prohibition. The
soldiers were caught running guns. 3. n. an
act of transporting contraband. Four
soldiers were killed during a run. In
their final run the cocaine smugglers made
over four million dollars.
run a make on someonetv. to perform
an identity check on someone. (Under-
world.) The cops ran a make on Lefty
and learned about his prison record. We
tried to run a make on him and came up
with nothing.
run amok[“r@n @”m@k] in. to go awry.
(From a Malay word meaning to run wild
in a violent frenzy.) Our plan ran
amok. The whole company ran amok af-
ter the market crashed.
runaroundn. a wild-goose chase. (Espe-
cially with give, as in the example.) The
IRS gave us the runaround when we asked
for a review. The customer will never get
a runaround at my store!
rundownn. a summary bringing someone
up to date. Can you give me a rundown
on what’s happened since noon? I need
a rundown on the current situation in
Alaska.
run down some lines 1. in. to converse
(with someone). I was running down
some lines with Fred when the bell rang.
Hey, man, let’s run down some lines. 2. in.
to try to seduce someone; to go through
a talk leading to seduction. (See also run
one’s rhymes.) Go run down some lines
with someone else. I was just standing
there running down some lines with Mary
when those guys broke in.
run it downtv. to tell the whole story; to
tell the truth. Come on! What hap-
pened? Run it down for me! I don’t care
what happened. Run it down. I can take it.
runner 1. n. a messenger. Send a runner
over to the other office for supplies. I
work as a runner in the financial district.- n. a person who transports contra-
band. (Underworld.) The cops caught
the runner red-handed. The runners got
away, but we have the goods.
run offin. to have diarrhea. Jimmy has
been running off since midnight. At
least I’m not running off anymore.
run off at the mouthin. to talk too much;
to have diarrhea of the mouth. I wish
you would stop running off at the mouth.
Tom runs off at the mouth too much. I
wish he would temper his remarks.
run-of-the-millmod. average; typical. (Re-
ferring to the typical quality of a prod-
uct that comes out of a mill.) He is just
a run-of-the-mill guy. I don’t want just
run-of-the-mill ice cream. This stuff is
just run-of-the-mill.
run on all cylinders 1. in. to run well and
smoothly. This department is running
rummy