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runaway

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Etymology and origin of the English word runaway

Confidence
Established
Formation
Compound
First attested
1500 Ortus Vocabulorum
Ultimate origin
Old English rinnan,aweg
Etymology tree
inherited borrowed derived
English run
English runaway

Pronunciation

  • /ˈɹʌnəweɪ/[1]

Etymology

It is formed from English run + away, as a noun and adjective use of the phrasal verb run away, to flee.[2][3][4][5][6] Etymonline dates the verbal phrase, in the sense of fleeing from danger, to the late 14th century.[3] The OED notes that much earlier use is probably implied by surnames such as Thom' Rennaway (c. 1273) and Johanne Renoway (1301), and compares the earlier noun runner-away.[2][3]

Earliest recorded meaning

As an adjective, having run away or escaped, fugitive: 1500, in the Ortus Vocabulorum.[2] As a noun, a person who runs away, a fugitive or deserter: 1534, in William Marshall's translation of Erasmus.[2][5]

Semantic evolution

The noun first meant a fugitive or deserter, and for a time (1561–1874) also an apostate.[2][4] Johnson (1755) defined it as one who flees from danger, quoting Shakespeare's "Thou runaway, thou coward, art thou fled?"[7] From 1607, in Gervase Markham's book on horsemanship, it was used of a horse that bolts, and the adjective of a horse or vehicle out of its rider's or driver's control;[2][3] the noun was later extended to railway trains (1848).[2][3] An act of running away, especially an elopement, is recorded from 1720, in Defoe,[2] and runaway marriage and runaway match became common phrases.[2][5] The general sense "out of control, developing ever faster" dates from 1790,[2] and Etymonline notes its modern use of conditions, forces and reactions from 1925, as in runaway inflation.[3][5] A victory won by a wide margin was called runaway from 1797, and since 1900, first in American advertising, a huge commercial success, as in runaway best-seller.[2][5] In the United States a runaway factory or shop moved to escape trade unions (1927),[2] and a runaway flag (1949) is a flag of convenience.[2] In Irish English a runaway was an elopement, and in East Anglia an open ditch across which water ran;[8] in Australia a runaway hole drains surface water.[9]

Timeline

  • 1500 – adjective, having run away, fugitive.[2]
  • 1534 – noun, a person who runs away; a fugitive or deserter.[2][5]
  • 1561 – an apostate (obsolete by 1874).[2]
  • 1607 – a horse that bolts; of a horse, out of control.[2][3]
  • 1720 – an act of running away, an elopement, as in runaway marriage.[2]
  • 1790 – out of control, increasing ever faster.[2]
  • 1797 – of a victory, won by a large margin.[2]
  • 1848 – a train that is out of control.[2][3]
  • 1900 – hugely successful, as in runaway success.[2]
  • 1927 – US, of a factory moved to avoid trade unions.[2]

Meanings

Noun

  1. A person who has run away, especially a child or teenager who has left home; a fugitive: The shelter took in runaways from across the state.[2][5]
  2. A horse, vehicle or train that has got out of control.[2][5][4]
  3. An act of running away, especially an elopement.[2][5]
  4. An easy or one-sided victory.[5]
  5. (obsolete, 1561–1874) An apostate.[2][4]

Adjective

  1. Having escaped from restraint, captivity or control: a runaway convict.[2][5]
  2. Out of control, or growing faster and faster: runaway costs.[2][5]
  3. Done by eloping: a runaway wedding.[2][5]
  4. Won by a large margin; overwhelmingly successful: a runaway best-seller.[2][5]
  5. Of a chin, receding.[2]

Word family

  • runaway star

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  6. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
  7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  8. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
  9. ^ Moore, Bruce, ed. (2004), The Australian Oxford Dictionary, 2nd ed., Melbourne: Oxford University Press
Cite this entry

“Runaway.” Etymologically, 31 Oct. 2026, etymologically.com/en/runaway. Accessed 31 Oct. 2026.

Last edited on . ·