running ordern.
/ˈrʌnɪŋ ˌɔːdə/, U.S. /ˈrənɪŋ ˌɔrdər/ (in senses 1, 2 also)Brit. /ˌrʌnɪŋ ˈɔːdə/, U.S. /ˌrənɪŋ ˈɔrdər/ 1.
a. The condition of being fit or able to run. Also with modifying adjective, as fine, strong, etc.: the present degree of ability to run shown by a person, horse, etc.Now usually as an extended use of sense 2.
ΘΚΠ
the world > movement > rate of motion > swiftness > going swiftly on foot > [noun] > running > capacity or power of
running order1729
run1839
runnability1978
1729 J. Vanderbank Twenty Five Actions of Manage Horse 6 On the Wolds..a bred Horse kept in running order is best.
1784 J. O'Keeffe Young Quaker ii. i. 11 Go your ways, you are in fine running order.
1826 Times 22 Sept. 3/3 Another horse..came in in tolerably strong running order.
1876 J. Addison Isabel St. Clair xv. 165 Scour the country, he cannot have got far, and he is in no running order!
1953 Washington Post 12 June 34/1 Just before the 1949 Kentucky Derby Ben Jones, the master mechanic who keeps the Calumet Farm's horses in running order, shook his grizzled head woefully.
1981 Newsweek (Nexis) 9 Mar. 11 c A $17,500 claimer—a horse already in running order—earns more in his third and fourth year of running, on average, than his counterpart bought as a yearling.
b. With good, excellent, etc. The condition of ground (esp. on a racecourse) which is in a good state for running upon. Now rare.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > forward movement > [noun] > as helped or hindered by ground
running order1773
going1925
1773 Morning Chron. 6 Sept. The race-ground..is in most excellent running order.
1857 Times 25 Mar. 12/1 The course was in fine running order.
1897 Belfast News-let. 13 Sept. 3/5 The hares look well, and the ground is in good running order.
2000 Evening Times (Nexis) 9 Oct. 28 Head groundsman Alex Fergusson used his background of 40 years in farming to take over responsibility for keeping one of the country's courses in perfect running order.
2.
a. The condition of being functional or operational; the condition in which something (originally a machine) is fit for use.
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the world > action or operation > [noun] > condition of being operative
gestion1599
working order1725
operation1792
running order1811
commission1829
commish1856
operationality1939
1811 Leeds Mercury 2 Mar. Two Reels, a Callender, and Lapping Frame; Straps and Geering,—the whole in Running Order.
1850 N. Kingsley Diary 4 Mar. (1914) 112 Got up steam again today and tried the larboard engine and have got both in running order.
1860 A. Sherwood Gazetteer Georgia (ed. 4) 152 Soon, say in summer of 1861, much [of the railroad] will be in running order.
1894 Homœopathic News 23 124 If a man had a fine piece of mechanism,..and it was out of running order, do you suppose he would take it to a blacksmith?
1916 Southern Reporter 70 1001/1 Have the plant completely equipped and in running order and in condition to receive fish on or before the 11th day of March.
1935 ‘G. Orwell’ Clergyman's Daughter iv. 234 It did not take her more than a couple of days to get her class into running order.
2008 Guardian 1 Sept. 27/4 Scavelmen kept waterways and ditches in running order.
b. The present condition of something (originally a machine) with regard to its ability to carry out its intended function. Usually with modifying adjective, as good, bad, etc.
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1829 Leeds Mercury 7 Feb. Malt Rollers, Bean Splitters, &c., all in good running order.
1867 Ann. Rep. Missouri State Board Agric. 1866 290 We had one agricultural society in fine running order before the war.
1884 L. C. Holloway Famous Amer. Fortunes 349 [A contract] was entered into..to maintain the running order of the rolling stock.
1902 ‘O. Henry’ in Ainslee's Mag. Apr. 209/2 The running order of the bank was smooth and clean, and that had facilitated his work.
1906 G. W. Redway Fredericksburg ii. 24 The branch line was in poor running order beyond Gainesville.
1960 Sci. News Let. 5 Mar. 147/1 Greater reduction in hydrocarbons..would result if motorists kept their cars in good running order.
2007 T. Brantley Cure 214 This is why it is critical to your health to keep these organs in perfect running order.
3. Originally Theatre. The sequence in which scenes, parts of a programme, songs, etc., are to be presented.
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society > communication > broadcasting > television > production of television broadcast > [noun] > shot > sequence of shots
sequence1929
running order1930
society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > item in > order of
running order1930
1930 A. Herbert Let. in N. Playfair Hammersmith Hoy xi. 267 The ‘running order’, the mere mechanical fitting together of the thing, with all the problems of scene-shifting, quick changes of costume, and the rest of it.
1961 G. Millerson Technique Television Production x. 186 A running order, prepared from this script after the technical planning meeting, will contain a breakdown of the entire studio operations throughout the show.
1991 Musical Q. Fall 412/1 The complex issues of keys, running order, and who-sings-what are clarified quite a bit.
2002 L. Purves Radio (2003) xi. 164 If a hotter story came up..your hours of research, legwork, and toil with a razor blade would be cavalierly bumped off the running order.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2011; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1729