Runs

//ɹʌnz// noun, verb, slang

noun, verb, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    plural of run form-of, plural
  2. 2
    Diarrhea/diarrhoea. often, plural, plural-only, slang, with-definite-article

    "He missed several days of school because he had the runs. They think it was a Norovirus infection."

Verb
  1. 1
    third-person singular simple present indicative of run form-of, indicative, present, singular, third-person

Synonyms

All synonyms
bloody fluxbmbowel movementcatharsiscrapdefecation

Example

More examples

"Two dogs fight for a bone, and the third runs away with it."

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.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.