to run on fumes
8
7.5
- idiom
- Informal
:
funcionar con lo mínimo
- It affected the Celtics the most, leaving them running on fumes and little to no help from their bench.
- running on fumes
And I was like, yeah, well, the car's running on fumes.
- And I was like, yeah, well, the car's running on fumes.
Examples
-
She managed to finish the project, but she was running on fumes due to lack of sleep.
-
The guy's been running on fumes.
-
That tells me that this investigation is running on fumes.
-
Because we're running on fumes.
-
I am running on fumes.
-
We're running on fumes here, boss.
-
As you can see, the conservative movement is running on fumes.
Blog text (22) -
I've been running on fumes most of my life.
-
Even if you managed to get an hour of sleep on the plane (which is impossible for me), you go into the next business day running on fumes.
Blog text (27) -
Even if I weren't running on fumes, post-hurricane, that's not a wand I can just wave overnight.
Blog text (19)
Synonyms
3
7.0
Very tired and having no energy or fuel left
1
3.2
To have almost no fuel left in a car
Antonyms
How Energized
455
3.7
22
2.7
11
2.5
- Informal
8
7.5
- Informal
7
7.2
- Informal
3
7.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase literally combines 'run' + 'on' + 'fumes' to evoke operating using residual gas, so a learner who knows the words can infer a sense of very little fuel/energy. However, the transfer from a physical image (fumes) to the abstract meanings of low motivation or scarce resources is metaphorical and not fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.
Etymology
The idiom run on fumes comes from the image of a car that keeps running when its tank is almost empty, moving only on the last fumes of fuel. So it means 'to continue to work with very little energy or resources left'.