Etymologically
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runaway

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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