From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrun up something phrasal verb1 run up a debt/bill etcUSE something to use so much of something, or borrow so much money, that you owe a lot of money She ran up an enormous phone bill.2 to achieve a particular score or position in a game or competition He quickly ran up a big lead in the polls.3 MAKE run something ↔ up to make something, especially clothes, very quickly She can run up a dress in an evening.4 UP run something ↔ up to raise a flag on a pole → run→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
run up • The narrow wooden stairs echoed as they ran up.• Deep, cramping spasms ran up and down her legs and twitched in her back.• Oh, I wished I still had even my scorpion on a string to run up and down somebody's back!• He wrapped a short raincoat around himself and ran up the front path.• Then the boy ran up the stairs and slammed his bedroom door.• Swords and dirks drawn, they ran up, threw open the great door, and flung themselves within.• One day, several weeks before, Harold came running up to me as I was getting out of my car.• His catch was still running up to the surface out of the hold.run up a debt/bill etc• They continue to run up bills and never build equity in their house.• Model customers run up bills and pay in installments, with the high interest that makes the business so lucrative.• If my neighbours ran up a bill and refused to pay we would not be expected to pay it.• It became a more serious potential debt trap than running up bills at retailers.• He spent 3 months there, running up bills of £30,000, as yet unpaid.• Having run up a debt of over £100,000, they're unlikely to be forgotten by Virgin Records in a hurry.• For Gieves the tailors, the extent to which clients indulged in running up bills regardless had become extremely serious.• The problem of running up debts to pay for the elderly is straight-forward.run-upˈrun-up noun 1 → the run-up to something2 [countable]DS the act of running, or the distance that you run, before you kick a ball, jump over a pole etcExamples from the Corpus
run-up• But I would like to know how much of a run-up he needed.• When a canvasser called during the election run-up, he decided to rejoin.• Taking an absurdly long run-up, I scuffed my first attempt so badly that it trickled past the left-hand post.• I took an unnecessarily long run-up and struck the ball well, but high.• The prime minister's spin doctors paid great attention to women's magazines during the run-up to the poll.• In the run-up to the November 1992 presidential elections, education was seen as a key issue.From Longman Business Dictionaryrun up phrasal verb1run up a bill/expenses/debtsFINANCE to use a lot of something or borrow a lot of money, so that you owe a lot of moneyHe ran up thousands of pounds worth of debts using other people’s credit cards.2FINANCE[intransitive] if share prices run up, they increaseThe stock price had run up just before the deal was announced. → run→ See Verb tablerun-upˈrun-up noun1the run-up to the period of time just before an important eventthe run-up to the general election2[countable usually singular]FINANCE when share prices increase, especially suddenly and quicklyrun-up inthe recent run-up in share prices 