From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrun highrun highEMOTIONALif feelings run high, people are very angry, upset, excited etc Tension ran high and fights broke out among the crowd. Feelings have been running high in the town, following the murder of a young girl. → run
Examples from the Corpus
run high• And moral outrage at the use of simple expedients can still run high.• At that news, excitement among scientists ran high.• Buyer interest in Pebble Beach has always run high.• The courts served as a safety-valve, acting as an alternative to violence when emotions ran high.• People seem confused, tensions run high, and constant crisis is a fact of organizational life.• All day Saturday, tensions ran high as the president alternated intense cabinet meetings with bouts of seclusion.• Actual monthly charges often run higher, however, because on-line services charge more for extra hours of use.• Later bravado runs high to disguise their feelings and some of them exploit the situation for gain. 