Runlet
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A small brook or stream.
"The biographer, especially of a literary man, need only mark the main currents of tendency, without being officious to trace out to its marshy source every runlet that has cast in its tiny pitcherful with the rest."
- 2 A wine measure, equivalent to 18 gallons. archaic
"[…]our cellarer shall have orders to deliver to thee a butt of sack, a runlet of Malvesie, and three hogsheads of ale of the first strike, yearly—If that will not quench thy thirst, thou must come to court, and become acquainted with my butler."
Example
More examples"The biographer, especially of a literary man, need only mark the main currents of tendency, without being officious to trace out to its marshy source every runlet that has cast in its tiny pitcherful with the rest."
Etymology
From run + -let. Compare runnel.
From Middle English roundelet, from Old French rondelet (“roundlet”). More at roundlet.
More for "runlet"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.