run

   1. to smuggle

   From one of the myriad meanings of run, in this instance a single voyage or excursion:

    You can lay aground by accident and run your goods. (Slick, 1836)

   A run is a smuggling trip:

    A fine clear run... all the goods snugly stowed away. (Ainslie, 1892)

   There seem still to be plenty of gunrunners around:

    There were people in India and Pakistan who would have been prepared to run guns or to go to Hyderabad to fight us. (Royle, 1989 — General Das was seeking to justify the Indian invasion of the princely state)

   2. to flee in defeat from a battlefield

   The motion is away from the enemy, not towards him, and the usage is by the winners:

    What? Do they run already? Then I die happy. (General Wolfe, 1759, as Montcalm's troops left the Plains of Abraham)

   Whence also to escape:

    After another half hour she realized he'd probably run. (Turow, 1999 — he had been under surveillance)

   3. an unexpected and sustained series of demands on a bank for repayment

   The phenomenon occurs when depositors fear for their savings:

    ... if the run persisted, cash reserves would be exhausted and FMA obliged to close its doors. (Hailey, 1975)

   4. (the) peremptory dismissal from employment

   A mordant wit may also give you your running shoes.

   5. deliberately to ignore

   When we disobey traffic signals:

    She ran a red light and turned a corner. (Follett, 1996 — the lady was not a bawd who repented of her ways)