running

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

• noun The act or an instance of running.
• noun The power or ability to run.
• noun Sports The exercise or sport of someone who runs.
• adjective Ongoing over a period of time.
• adjective Set in continuous or unbroken lines.
• adjective Printed at the top or bottom of every page or every other page.
• adverb In a consecutive way.
• idiom (in the running) Entered as a contender in a competition.
• idiom (in the running) Having the possibility of winning or placing well in a competition.
• idiom (out of the running) Not entered as a contender in a competition.
• idiom (out of the running) Having no possibility of winning or placing well in a competition.

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The act of one who or that which runs.
• noun Specifically, the act of one who risks or evades dangers or legal restrictions, as in running a blockade or smuggling.
• noun The action of a whale after being struck by the harpoon, when it swims but does not sound.
• noun In racing, etc., power, ability, or strength to run; hence, staying power.
• noun The ranging of any animals, particularly in connection with the rut, or other actions of the breeding season: also used attributively: as, the running time of salmon or deer.
• noun In organ-building, a leakage of the air in a wind-chest into a channel so that a pipe is sounded when its digital is depressed, although its stop is not drawn; also, the sound of a pipe thus sounded. Also called running of the wind.
• noun That which runs or flows; the quantity run: as, the first running of a still, or of cider at the mill.
• noun Course, direction, or manner of flowing or moving.
• That runs; suited for running, racing, etc. See run, n., 1 .
• Specifically, in zoology, cursorial; gressorial; ambulatory; not salient or saltatory.
• Capable of moving quickly; movable; mobilized.
• Done, made, taken, etc., in passing, or while hastening along; hence, cursory; hasty; speedy.
• Cursive, as manuscript: as, running hand (see below).
• Proceeding in close succession; without intermission: used in a semi-adverbial sense after nouns denoting periods of time: as, I had the same dream three nights running.
• Continuous; unintermittent; persistent.
• In botany, repent or creeping by runners, as the strawberry. See runner, 2.
• A horizontal board along the ridge of a box freight-car or the side of an oil-car, to form a passage for the trainmen.
• In machinery, moving; not held tightly; not fixed. A running fit is one where two surfaces in contact fit so loosely that one can move freely past the other.
• Approaching; going on.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun The act of one who, or of that which runs.
• noun That which runs or flows; the quantity of a liquid which flows in a certain time or during a certain operation.
• noun The discharge from an ulcer or other sore.
• noun [Obs.] in the long run.
• adjective Moving or advancing by running.
• adjective Having a running gait; not a trotter or pacer.
• adjective trained and kept for running races.
• adjective Successive; one following the other without break or intervention; -- said of periods of time.
• adjective Flowing; easy; cursive.
• adjective Continuous; keeping along step by step.
• adjective (Bot.) Extending by a slender climbing or trailing stem.
• adjective (Med.) Discharging pus.
• adjective (Mech.) a block in an arrangement of pulleys which rises or sinks with the weight which is raised or lowered.
• adjective a narrow platform extending along the side of a locomotive.
• adjective (Naut.) Same as Reefing bowsprit.
• adjective (Com.) the consecutive days occupied on a voyage under a charter party, including Sundays and not limited to the working days.
• adjective a constant fire of musketry or cannon.
• adjective the wheels and axles of a vehicle, and their attachments, in distinction from the body; all the working parts of a locomotive or other machine, in distinction from the framework.
• adjective a style of rapid writing in which the letters are usually slanted and the words formed without lifting the pen; -- distinguished from round hand.
• adjective (Naut.) that part of a rope that is hauled upon, -- in distinction from the standing part.