From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrun out phrasal verb1 a) FINISH/USE ALL OF somethingto use all of something and not have any more left I’ve got money you can borrow if you run out. of They ran out of money and had to abandon the project. He’d run out of ideas. b) FINISH/USE ALL OF somethingif something is running out, there will soon be none left We must act now because time is running out. My patience was running out. His luck had run out (=there was none left).2 FINISH/COME TO AN ENDif an agreement, official document etc runs out, the period for which it is legal or has an effect ends SYN expire My contract runs out in September.3 run out of steam informal (also run out of gas American English)FINISH/USE ALL OF something to have no more energy or no longer be interested in what you are doing The team seemed to have run out of gas.4 run somebody out of town old-fashionedLEAVE A PLACE to force someone to leave a place, because they have done something wrong5 run somebody ↔ outDSC to end a player’s innings in the game of cricket by hitting the stumps with the ball while they are running → run→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
run out• I want to use this train ticket before it runs out.• The desperate search for survivors continues, but time is running out.• We'd almost finished solving the problem when our time ran out.• Our supplies had run out and all we could do was wait.• The current treaty runs out at the end of this year.• I was in a phone box and my money ran out before I'd finished.• The lease on the shop runs out soon.run of• But graves registration had run out of body bags, and the corpses were stacked without them.• He had run out of clothespins.• But this company has been doing business for 26 years and shows no sign of running out of energy or new ideas.• We ran out of gas on the freeway last night.• We're starting to run out of ideas.• We've run out of milk. Could you stop at the store on your way home?• Can people ever run out of new uses for computers?• I hope we don't run out of paint.• The gauges showed he was pulling maximum power, and we were running out of room.• I turned away, feeling sick, and ran out of the room.• If they leave the taps running they will run out of water until it rains again.• By the time they got back to the camp, they had nearly run out of water.run out of steam• Gail started the project with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, but at some point she just ran out of steam.• Mr Chuan was perceived to have run out of steam.• The market rallied early in 1995, but then ran out of steam.• Fuel protest runs out of steam A national protest by truckers demanding cheaper fuel turned out to be a low-key affair.• The Damascus government has run out of steam after 30 years in power.• His passion is to say if the constitutional model has run out of steam, change it.• The home team seemed to run out of steam well before the game was over.run somebody out of town• Or at least run them out of town.From Longman Business Dictionaryrun out phrasal verb [intransitive]1to use all of something and not have any of it left ofWhat happens when we run out of oil?2if something runs out, there is then none of it leftRegulators close a bank when its capital runs out.3if an agreement or other official document runs out, it reaches the end of a period of time when it is officially allowed to continueMy contract runs out in September. → run→ See Verb table 