An explanation of the different meanings of the English phrasal verb 'run over', with lots of examples in context
How well do you know the English phrasal verb 'run over'? Do you know that it has 4 distinct meanings in English, including one that means that you are working too hard and one that will probably kill you?! If not, do not worry as in this post, I will explain the different meanings of 'run over' for you, hopefully in clear and understandable English, with lots of examples of usage in context to help you understand, learn and memorise them. So, without further ado, let''s make a start.
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Usage | Common |
Number of meanings | 5 |
Past tense forms | Ran over / Run over |
Separable? | No |
MEANINGS (Click to jump to each one)
Photo: Pexels
THE BASICS
Let's start things off by examining the individual words 'run' and 'over' and what they mean on their own.
First, we have our main verb 'to run', which is an irregular verb that you will all undoubtedly be aware of. The most common and well known meaning of the verb 'to run' is 'to move on your feet, at a speed that is faster than walking'. From this action, we also get the idea of a steady movement and it can therefore also be used as a synonym for the verb 'to flow', especially when talking about liquids, particularly rivers. Another definition of 'to run' is to cause something to operate or to control something and often you hear this used when referring to a business or a company. Furthermore, often when the verb 'to run' is used it can imply that something is done quickly.
I ran a marathon yesterday and I am so tired today.
Running is a great way to stay fit and lose weight.
The river runs past Claire's house.
Helen knows how to run a business.
Next, we have the prepositional particle 'over', which is primarily used to talk about being situated or moving above or across something. In addition to this, it can also be used as a preposition to mean 'more than' or 'on the other side of' and as an adjective it can mean 'finished'. When used in phrasal verb constructions, 'over' often adds this idea of a movement across or above something, however it can also add the ideas of consideration, repetition and change of state.
So, now that we have considered the basics, let's move on to the real reason why you are here, i.e. the meanings of the phrasal verb 'run over'....
MEANING 1: To go across something by running
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | A2 - Elementary |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To run across, to go over, to come over |
Separable? | No |
First up, to ease us gently into the different meanings of 'run over', we have a nice and straightforward one, which is just the literal meaning of the two-word combination: 'to go across something by running'.
For this application, there is no strange or illogical meaning and it is purely the idea of running from one side of something to the other. You may hear this with nouns such as 'street', 'field' and 'beach', however the synonym 'run across' is perhaps more likely to be used here, especially as in some contexts the meaning of 'run over' may get confused with one of its other meanings that we will look at later in the post.
The group of soldiers ran over the field.
My dog ran over the beach to my husband who was waiting on the other side.
She ran over the street to see her friend.
Unless it is obvious from the context, I would recommend using the word 'to' + the destination of the running action with this application of 'run over' as this will help to avoid any confusion.
On situation in which I hear this application of 'run over' used more commonly however is when someone runs from one place to another without moving specifically from one side of it to the other. This could just be a movement across a part of something such as a room or from one space or position to another but often you hear people using it to describe when a person runs to where the speaker is or wars. The extra preposition 'to' should be used here when specifying the destination of the running person.
Can you run over to Lisa's office and collect the keys from her.
When we are standing at the bus stop, a man ran over to us to advise us that there had been an emergency.
I heard a loud noise coming from the other side of the street, so I ran over to find out what had happened.
MEANING 2: To overflow
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | B1 - Intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To overflow, to spill over, to brim over |
Separable? | No |
The second meaning of 'run over' that we will cover in the post is another nice and simple one and means 'to overflow'.
For this meaning, we are thinking about containers, or in other words, objects that are used to hold something within them and for this application of 'run over', we are concerned mainly with liquids. If you remember at the beginning of the post in the Basics section, I mentioned that one of the meanings of the verb 'to run', when used in reference to liquids, is 'to flow'. If we then combine this idea of 'flowing' with the meaning of 'over' as in 'exceeding' something and also add in the idea of a container for the liquid, we arrive at the central idea of a liquid running over the edge of its container. Moreover, we do not use 'run over' in this way exclusively with liquids as it can also be used with grain solids like salt, sand, rice etc.
Interestingly, we do not tend to use 'run over' much in this sense when talking about rivers, despite the fact that they flow. Instead, we would be more inclined to use the verb 'flood' here.
David forgot to turn off the bath tap and after 10 minutes the tub was running over.
Simon was looking as he was pouring the wine and it ran over the edge of the glass and onto the table.
MEANING 3: To exceed a limit
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To go over, to exceed |
Separable? | No |
Meaning number three of 'run over' is a really useful one to know for those of you who use English professionally and is 'to exceed a limit'. This one can be heard a lot in business and companies all over the English speaking world, especially with reference to meetings.
Typically, there are two types of limit that we use this application of 'run over' with, which are 'time' and 'money'.
If we first take the idea of time, we are thinking mainly about meetings and other activities that fall outside of the remit of our everyday jobs. Usually, when someone sets up a meeting, they allot an amount of time for it in their schedule, based on how long it is expected to take, e.g. one hour or an entire morning. If, in reality, the meeting takes longer than the designated time period and continues past the point at which the meeting was supposed to end, we can say that the meeting 'runs over'. Although this is used predominantly for meetings, it can in fact be used for anything that is scheduled to finish at an expected time but which ends up ending later.
The meeting ran over this morning, so now I am behind on my work and I need to catch up.
Tatyana's English lesson has run over and so she is not going to make her appointment at the dentist.
I need to leave at 4pm sharp today, so this meeting cannot run over.
You may be familiar with the English idiomatic expression 'time is money', meaning that time should not be wasted as it can always be used to earn money. Just like this saying suggests, in addition to talking about time, we can also use this second application of 'run over' to talk about money, in particular, budgets.
All companies and businesses have budgets, which are amounts of money that are available for them to spend on specific projects and activities. Again, similar to allocating time for meetings, budgets are usually calculated based on how much money the company expects will be needed to complete the task in question. If the amount of money that is spent on the project is more than the expected amount that was allocated in the budget, we can say that the costs have 'run over'. This is typically caused by unexpected costs that are incurred during the project.
The government's high speed rail project has run over budget by several million pounds.
The project has been hit by unexpected setbacks and the costs are expected to run over significantly.
BONUS - To Overrun You may have seen the verb 'to overrun' listed in the potential synonyms for this application of 'run over'. This is not a spelling error or figment of your imagination as this verb does also exist and has the same meaning i.e. to exceed an expected limit, either of time or money.
There is also a second meaning of 'to overrun' which is similar to the verb 'to overwhelm' and is often used in adjectival form to describe when people or things quickly spread into a place or invade it in large numbers. |
MEANING 4: To hit someone with a vehicle
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | B2 - Upper intermediate |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To knock over, to knock down, to hit, to mow down, to run down |
Separable? | Yes |
The fourth meaning of 'run over' is the negative and horrible one (there is usually one in each post) and also happens to be the one that you hear most in everyday English and that is 'to hit someone with a vehicle'.
Moreover, a more precise definition of this application would be 'to hit a person with a vehicle and drive over them', however we can use this to describe just when a person is hit by a moving vehicle alone, without the element of passing over their body. Either way, it is a very unfortunate experience for anyone involved and usually ends with the victim being injured or killed. In addition to people, this application can be used for animals too.
Most of the time, when we talk about these sad and tragic incidents we are referring to the victims and therefore from a grammatical perspective, we tend to use the passive form. In particular, the 'get' passive form tends to be used here as the action of 'running over' is a negative one. Of course, we can also use it in an active sense when referring to the driver or the vehicle who runs the victim over.
One way that native speakers use this application of 'run over' is to put things into perspective and tell people to stop worrying about small things. We do this by using the expression "you could get run over by a bus tomorrow" to say that they could die tomorrow ....it sounds harsh but it definitely works!
The drunk driver was sent to prison for running over two pedestrians.
A schoolboy was run over on his way to school this morning but luckily his injuries are not life threatening.
Don't worry about it, you could get run over by a bus tomorrow!
A deer got run over on the lane last night.
MEANING 5: To practise something quickly
Photo: Pexels
CEFR Language Level | C1 - Advanced |
Usage | Medium |
Where is it used? | Everywhere |
Potential synonyms | To go through, to go over, to rehearse, |
Separable? | No |
We've now arrived at our fifth and final meaning of 'run over', which is 'to practise, rehearse or look at something quickly'.
This usage can really be used for anything that you prepare and need to rehearse, read through or check again before a deadline and could include such things as a speech or lines in a play. Maybe you have created a presentation and want to run over it quickly to make sure that you have not made any mistakes or perhaps you may need someone to explain something to you again, so you may ask them to run over it one more time to make sure that you understand it. Whatever the activity though, the idea is that it is done quickly, as indicated by the verb 'to run'.
I'm just going to run over my speech one more time and then I'll be ready.
Would you mind running over the main points again for me quickly?
Do you want to run over our lines again before we go on stage?
One final way that 'run over' is used here is for situations when we have a complex or problematic situation in our lives. If we spend a lot of time thinking about the problem or situation in order to find a solution or consider it in some way, we can use 'run over' to describe this. Often, this is used in a continuous tense form, which I think conveys the idea that your thoughts move quickly in your head when you are thinking about the different possibilities and choices.
I was running it over in my mind all last night and I'm still no closer to finding a solution.
Photo: Pexels
We have now reached the end of this post and I just want to say thank you for clicking on my post and reading it. I hope that you've enjoyed it and have been able to learn something new. If you enjoyed this post, please go ahead and check out some of my other posts.
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