Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
to run to earth

to run to earth

8.1
Find and catch someone or something after a long difficult search
  • phrasal verb
translation icon : dar con
  • After weeks of searching, they finally ran to earth the missing documents.

Examples

  • It took the team months to run to earth the rare manuscript hidden in a private collection.

  • Detectives were determined to run to earth whoever was responsible for the mysterious disappearance.

  • After weeks of investigation, the reporter finally managed to run to earth the elusive source of the leak.

  • I hope we can run to earth the truth behind the scandal.

  • After weeks of investigation, the reporter finally managed to run to earth the elusive source of the leak.

  • Detectives were determined to run to earth whoever was responsible for the mysterious disappearance.

  • It took the team months to run to earth the rare manuscript hidden in a private collection.

Synonyms

to track down
vsto run to earth
212 3.3

To search for someone or something until you find them

is used when the search is longer and harder
to hunt
vsto run to earth
190 1.2

To look carefully for something or someone

involves a longer and harder search that ends in finding
to hunt down
vsto run to earth
148 3.9

Search for and find someone or something after a lot of effort

is finding after a longer and more difficult search
to run down
vsto run to earth
13 4.1

To follow and catch a person, animal or vehicle

is about finding after a long difficult search rather than chasing
to rout out
vsto run to earth
  • UK
5.5

To find something after a careful search

is focused on much longer and more difficult searches

Antonyms

to give up
∞ 1.2

To stop trying to do something or accept defeat

How Difficult

to capture
884 2.8
to run to earth
8.1
to hunt down
148 3.9
to track down
212 3.3
to locate
533 2.7
to find
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

run to earth infinitive
running to earth present participle
runs to earth third person singular
ran to earth past
run to earth past participle

Morphology

run + to + Earth

Although the constituents 'run' and 'earth' have clear literal meanings, the idiomatic sense 'to find or catch after a long search' depends on a hunting metaphor (forcing quarry back to its earth/den) that is not obvious from the words alone. A B1 learner who knows the separate words would be unlikely to infer the figurative meaning without prior exposure, so the relation is metaphorical but partially recoverable with cultural knowledge.

Etymology

Run to earth comes from hunting: dogs chased animals until the animal ran into its den, called an earth, or a hole in the ground. That's why the phrase now means 'to find or catch someone or something after a long and difficult search'.