Word
runs
US/ˈɹənz/
UK/ɹˈʌnz/
Definition
n. a slang word for when you have to go to the toilet very often because you are sick.
n. a slang term for diarrhea. Usually used with 'the' and treated as a plural noun.
Examples
“I think the spicy food gave me the runs.”
“He had to cancel his presentation at the last minute because he woke up with a bad case of the runs.”
“Travelers often experience the runs when their digestive systems encounter unfamiliar bacteria in local water supplies, a condition colloquially known by various regional nicknames.”
Examples
simple
“I think the spicy food gave me the runs.”
contextual
“He had to cancel his presentation at the last minute because he woke up with a bad case of the runs.”
complex
“Travelers often experience the runs when their digestive systems encounter unfamiliar bacteria in local water supplies, a condition colloquially known by various regional nicknames.”
Usage
Always used with the definite article as 'the runs'.
Teaching tip
This is a very common but informal term; students should use 'diarrhea' in medical or formal contexts.
Real-World Examples
“The difficulty the book runs into is that there is only so much to unpack.” “The service runs under a non-privileged service account.” Etymology
Usually said to allude to the fact that an affected person is frequently running to get to a toilet immediately. Sometimes said to allude to the runniness (runny consistency) of the stool.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Collocations
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/runs