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1609 P. Erondelle tr. M. Lescarbot Noua Francia xxiv. 275 Pits which they make in some discent of a hill, for the running downe of waters.

1707 J. Mortimer Whole Art Husbandry 324 A small piece of Tile to stop the running down of the Tap-root.

1796 N. Salmon Stemmata Latinitatis I. 194 Decursia, a running down, a landing.

1856 C. Dickens in Househ. Words 28 June 554/2 The landsman was relating his experience..of a fearful running-down case in the Channel.

1890 Longman's Mag. Oct. 620 The running down, if I may so call it, of the powers of the body.

a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. i. 12 The forming is like the winding-up of the clock, the latter is like the running-down.

1968 Times 29 Nov. 13/3 The running-down rate of the pulsar implies that it has a lifetime of the same order as the Crab nebula.

1987 G. Turner Sea & Summer 136 As always..there was a running-down period before sleep.

2005 Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 27 Mar. a8/5 We have seen the running down of our system of justice and our educational institutions.