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At the long run

Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Run \Run\, n.
   1. The act of running; as, a long run; a good run; a quick
      run; to go on the run.

   2. A small stream; a brook; a creek.

   3. That which runs or flows in the course of a certain
      operation, or during a certain time; as, a run of must in
      wine making; the first run of sap in a maple orchard.

   4. A course; a series; that which continues in a certain
      course or series; as, a run of good or bad luck.

            They who made their arrangements in the first run of
            misadventure . . . put a seal on their calamities.
                                                  --Burke.

   5. State of being current; currency; popularity.

            It is impossible for detached papers to have a
            general run, or long continuance, if not diversified
            with humor.                           --Addison.

   6. Continued repetition on the stage; -- said of a play; as,
      to have a run of a hundred successive nights.

            A canting, mawkish play . . . had an immense run.
                                                  --Macaulay.

   7. A continuing urgent demand; especially, a pressure on a
      bank or treasury for payment of its notes.

   8. A range or extent of ground for feeding stock; as, a sheep
      run. --Howitt.

   9. (Naut.)
      (a) The aftermost part of a vessel's hull where it narrows
          toward the stern, under the quarter.
      (b) The distance sailed by a ship; as, a good run; a run
          of fifty miles.
      (c) A voyage; as, a run to China.

   10. A pleasure excursion; a trip. [Colloq.]

             I think of giving her a run in London. --Dickens.

   11. (Mining) The horizontal distance to which a drift may be
       carried, either by license of the proprietor of a mine or
       by the nature of the formation; also, the direction which
       a vein of ore or other substance takes.

   12. (Mus.) A roulade, or series of running tones.

   13. (Mil.) The greatest degree of swiftness in marching. It
       is executed upon the same principles as the double-quick,
       but with greater speed.

   14. The act of migrating, or ascending a river to spawn; --
       said of fish; also, an assemblage or school of fishes
       which migrate, or ascend a river for the purpose of
       spawning.

   15. In baseball, a complete circuit of the bases made by a
       player, which enables him to score one; in cricket, a
       passing from one wicket to the other, by which one point
       is scored; as, a player made three runs; the side went
       out with two hundred runs.

             The ``runs'' are made from wicket to wicket, the
             batsmen interchanging ends at each run. --R. A.
                                                  Proctor.

   16. A pair or set of millstones.

   {At the long run}, now, commonly, {In the long run}, in or
      during the whole process or course of things taken
      together; in the final result; in the end; finally.

            [Man] starts the inferior of the brute animals, but
            he surpasses them in the long run.    --J. H.
                                                  Newman.

   {Home run}.
       (a) A running or returning toward home, or to the point
           from which the start was made. Cf. {Home stretch}.
       (b) (Baseball) See under {Home}.

   {The run}, or {The common run}, etc., ordinary persons; the
      generality or average of people or things; also, that
      which ordinarily occurs; ordinary current, course, or
      kind.

            I saw nothing else that is superior to the common
            run of parks.                         --Walpole.

            Burns never dreamed of looking down on others as
            beneath him, merely because he was conscious of his
            own vast superiority to the common run of men.
                                                  --Prof.
                                                  Wilson.

            His whole appearance was something out of the common
            run.                                  --W. Irving.

   {To let go by the run} (Naut.), to loosen and let run freely,
      as lines; to let fall without restraint, as a sail.
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