Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to denigrate someone, to slander someone.

1680–1		N. Lee Princess of Cleve II iii: After all, they’ll thus run you down, and say your Grace is no Scholar.
1668		Dryden An Evening’s Love I i: I am revenged on you, for running down my poor old master.
1710		R. Steele Tatler No. 226 n.p.: He found himself run down as a superficial prating Quack.
1756		W. Toldervy Hist. of the Two Orphans III 200: Their excellency lies in rude, choquing expressions, and what they call running a man down.
1800		Sporting Mag. Oct. XVII 42/2: Nymphs of renown, / Who with smiles and grimaces – are running her down!
1833		A. Greene Life and Adventures of Dr Dodimus Duckworth II 70: But ’tis’nt my business to run down my neighbours.
1836		T. Haliburton Clockmaker I 54: I don’t like to hear you run down king Solomon neither.
1840		T. Haliburton Clockmaker III 228: It don’t do to run down everything either, especially to the ladies.
1845		S. Judd Margaret (1851) I 189: ‘Gummy!’ retorted the woman. ‘He has been a talkin’ about me, and a runnin’ of me down.’.
1859, 1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc.
1860		E. Eden Semi-Attached Couple (1979) 140: Now, my dear Beaufort, do not you join to run down poor Stuart.
1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.
1888		A. Levy Reuben Sachs (2001) 63: He is always running them down.
1890		‘Rolf Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer II 10: I mean it to apply to all of you men who run down the poor Count so.
1902		A.N. Lyons Hookey 141: All our men-servants are very nice. The other gals don’t think so; an’ always run ’em down.
1906		Marvel 6 Oct. 308: You know I ain’t one of those who run down Andrews.
1908		A.N. Lyons Arthur’s 298: An’ mind you, ’e is MY BOY, an’ anybody as runs ’im down ’ll learn about it. I can put ’em up all right.
1910		‘Word-List From West Brattleboro’ in DN III:vi 454: run down, v. To depreciate, disparage. ‘He run down the whole town and all the people.’.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 696: She was edging to draw down a conversation about husbands and talk about him to run him down.
1938		G. Kersh Night and the City 128: You can run me down and call me names.
1944		J. Cary Horse’s Mouth (1948) 267: It’s no good running down the government.
1948		J. Evans Halo For Satan (1949) 146: It suddenly hit him [...] that he’d been running down a customer and the customer might find out about it.
1951		(con. 1941) E. Lambert Twenty Thousand Thieves 148: You wouldn’t be any happier there judging by the way you’re running the colonel down.
1953		J. Thompson Criminal (1993) 17: They were always running someone down.
1965		G. Melly Owning Up (1974) 57: Mick, whose ears are as sharp as his eyes are dim, was always hearing Paul running him down as a musician.
1982		P. Theroux London Embassy 70: Just because you like English schools doesn’t mean you have to run down American ones.
2000		Indep. Rev. 19 May 1: Don’t run Easington down.

2. (W.I.) to seduce someone, to persuade them to become one’s lover.

1929		E. Caldwell Bastard (1963) 26: The women in this town run the men down. [Ibid.] 69: Say, kid, why did you start hustling? [...] What made you start running down men?
1940		Louis Jordan ‘I’m Alabama Bound’ 🎵 Oh, the rooster crowed, / And the hen looked ’round, / Says, ‘If you want me to love you, / You gotta run me down.’.
1964		W. Dixon ‘The Same Thing’ 🎵 Why do all of these men try to run a big-leg woman down / Must be the same old thing that makes the bulldog hug a hound.

3. (also run it) to rehearse, to practise, to explain.

1948		Down Beat 1 Dec. 10: We ran down three new instrumentals.
1959		G. Kanin Blow Up a Storm 19: I distributed the parts and we ran it down.
1965		C. Brown Manchild in the Promised Land (1969) 410: He could run down the Civil War, shot for shot.
1969		‘Iceberg Slim’ Pimp 47: I flapped my ears when I heard one of the white repeaters running down the joint [...] to a fish.
1978		R. Price Ladies’ Man (1985) 7: Teaching English in some little ivy-covered brick schoolhouse in New England – running down Jack London to all those blond little plumpling dumpling kids.
1985		N. Pileggi Wiseguy (2001) 169: He had Marty run down the score for him.
1997		(con. 1970s) G. Pelecanos King Suckerman (1998) 73: They laid that shit out and ran it down.
1999		‘The Master Pimp’ Pimp’s Rap 84: Let me run you down some of my rap.
2000		W.D. Myers ‘Kitty and Mack: A Love Story’ in 145th Street 102: ‘Run it, Mack [...] ‘You talk all that good-doing stuff and I’ll listen’ .
2001		(con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 576: Bayard ran it down. Bayard described mirrors and mike plants. Bayard described a fruit squeeze.
2005		W.D. Myers Autobiog. of My Dead Brother 113: When Calvin ran it back at me, it sounded more like everyday news.
2008		W.D. Myers Sunrise Over Fallujah 6: In case you’re too stupid to follow what I’m saying I will run it down for you very slowly and very carefully.
2010		W.D. Myers Lockdown 246: He knows in his heart that’s [i.e. making a rap CD] not going to happen, but he’s still running it.

4. to verbalize.

1967		C. Cooper Jr Farm (1968) 94: I cut it off by running down my holebit and the thing that brought it on.
1970		B. Seale Seize the Time 42: I had always been running down about how we need this organization, that organization, but never anything concrete.