run-down, ppl. a.
[run v.]
1. Downtrodden, oppressed. rare—1.
| 1683 O. Heywood Diaries (1883) III. 340 That lost oppertunity of clearing..the run-down truth. |
2. Of watch-plates: Faced with only one coat of enamel.
| 1834–6 Encycl. Metrop. (1845) VIII. 490 The coarser description of watch plates are made rather differently, and are termed run-down plates, and run-down one coats. |
3. Completely unwound. Also transf. of appliances not run by clock-work. Cf. also quot. 1866 at sense 5 below.
| 1894 A. Robertson Nuggets 9 Bill..put his finger on the dead man's pulse, and placed his hand over the heart. They were both still as a run-down clock. 1974 A. Goddard Vienna Pursuit iv. 141 As though a run-down gramophone had been rewound, he went on. 1977 E. Ambler Send no more Roses x. 231 On the bench was a trickle charger with spring-clip connectors on long leads for attaching the thing to a run-down battery. |
4. Tumble-down, dilapidated; spec. of districts, etc.: decayed, shabby, seedy.
| 1896 Boston (Mass.) Youth's Comp. 10 Dec. 659/4 He lived in a little old run-down place. 1929 T. Wolfe Look Homeward, Angel xxxix. 612 He was offered employment..on the teaching staff of the run-down military academy. 1938 M. Brinig May Flavin iv. 369 The particular district was one of cheap run-down rooming houses. 1948 H. Lawrence Death of Doll iv. 75 Run-down neighbourhood but respectable; rooming houses and railroad flats. 1953 K. Tennant Joyful Condemned xxxii. 309 A run-down little suburban house with..a broken wooden verandah. 1962 A. Lurie Love & Friendship iv. 71 The streets of run-down two- or four-family frame houses. 1977 New Yorker 27 June 24/3 The church, a structure in American-Gothic style..dominates a run-down neighborhood. |
5. In a low state of health.
| 1866 Geo. Eliot Let. 12 Feb. (1956) IV. 232 George..was a little benefited, but only a little. He is too far ‘run down’ to be wound up in a very short time. 1889 Jrnl. Mental Sci. XXXV. 200 Her general appearance gave the idea of being ‘run down’ in bodily health. 1901 Westm. Gaz. 6 Sept. 1/2 Tasmania has, for many years past, been the happy holiday-ground of run-down Indian officers and officials. 1916 [see nervy a. 5]. 1927 C. Connolly Let. c 24 Jan. in Romantic Friendship (1975) 219, I am sorry you are run down. 1938 E. Waugh Scoop i. ii. 32 Once or twice when Mrs. Salter complained of being run down, they had visited prosperous resorts on the East Coast. |
Hence run-ˈdownable a.; run-ˈdownness.
| 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 373 Of all things huntable, chaseable, rundownable, I doubt if there be one that can equal a Fire. 1902 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 12 Apr. 923 If consumption is nothing more than ‘an aggravated attack of run-downness’ how is it that an elaborate training is required for its treatment? |