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Glite Dictionary
to run off with

to run off with

50 5.4
To leave quickly with something stolen or taken without permission
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : huir con
  • Ellie, did you hear, Ada ran off with Tommy Prior?

So I gave Stanley the check and he ran off with it.

Examples

  • Why don't you run off with him?

    You've Got Mail (1998)

  • She ran off with a former business associate of mine, one Reginald T. Barnes.

    Get the Gringo (2012)

  • Why would she run off with them?

    Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood (2002)

  • Then my wife ran off with my uncle and left me with the boy.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • And think twice the next time you decide to run off with the minister's son.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • Prentiss ought to have thought of that before he ran off with that girl.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • For a second, I thought Trey or one of his friends had run off with her.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • He's terribly nice, but his wife's just run off with one of the partners.

    Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)

  • What am I supposed to come home to, a wife that's run off with a dentist from Odessa?

    Fiction book (1993)

  • The thief managed to run off with a bag of cash before anyone noticed.

Synonyms

to make off
vsto run off with
19 6.4

To run away quickly after stealing or committing a crime

is about escaping quickly with stolen or taken items
to walk off with
vsto run off with
  • Informal
13 6.5

To take something quickly without the owner's permission, often without being noticed

involves escaping with stolen or taken items often quickly and secretly
to abscond
vsto run off with
  • Formal
11 8.5

To leave quickly and secretly with money or things to avoid being caught

is about escaping quickly with stolen or taken items
to walk off
vsto run off with
  • Informal
6 7.5

To take something that is not yours and carry it away without asking

involves escaping while carrying taken items rather than casual taking
to absquatulate
vsto run off with
  • Archaic
9.9

To leave a place quickly and secretly, often taking things or someone

is about escaping quickly with stolen or taken items
to have it away
vsto run off with
  • UK
9.9

To secretly steal something

highlights escaping with stolen items rather than only the act of stealing

Antonyms

to return
∞ 1.0

Give something back to its owner or the place it came from

to give back
684 1.0

Return something to the person who owns it after you use or borrow it

How Secret

to abscond
  • Formal
11 8.5
to run off with
50 5.4
to make off
19 6.4
to steal
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

run off with infinitive
ran off with past
run off with past participle
running off with present participle
runs off with third person singular

Morphology

run + off + with

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'run' (move quickly) + 'off' (away) + 'with' (accompanying/holding), yielding 'to run away with something.' This motion+particle+preposition composition is a transparent, cross-linguistically common pattern, so a B1 learner who knows the parts will readily infer the idiom's sense.

Etymology

The phrasal verb run off with may come from the simple image of someone taking an item and running off with it. That's why it now means 'to escape with something that has been stolen, won, or taken secretly'.