do a runner
to run away without paying (i.e. from a restaurant)
TRANSLATION
do a runner = abhauen, schnell das Weite suchen, schnell verschwinden, sich aus dem Staub machen, (den Wirt) um die Zeche prellen --- GOOGLE INDEX Do a runner: approximately 332,000 Google hits
STATISTICS
IN THE PRESS
London restaurateurs are in a state of red alert after a couple DID A RUNNER last week from a Marylebone restaurant.
Daily Telegraph
Daily Telegraph
Did you
know?
do a runner
idiom
- to leave a place in order to avoid a difficult or unpleasant situation or to avoid paying for something
(Cambridge Dictionary)
Attaching the word "do" to a noun with the indefinite article "a" is simply an informal, slang way to express the act of "doing" something.
If you "do a number" on someone for instance, you harm or deceive them.
Some who "does a line" is snorting a powdered drug like cocaine.
If you radically reverse a stance or opinion on something, then you might be accused of "doing a one-eighty" (as in turning 180 degrees).
If you do a double-take, then you have to look twice to make sure you saw something correctly.
Are you attending a genuinely boring party or event? Then "do a fade" and leave quietly or sneak away.
If you tend to be a night owl and owe money that you don't have, then "do a midnight flit" and leave secretly at night.
And of course, speaking of leaving, if you "do a runner," then you leave someplace without paying or because you are in trouble with the law.
---
SYNONYMS
run away, escape, flee, take off, bolt, run off, clear out, beat it (slang), abscond, decamp, take flight, hook it (slang), scarper (British, slang), cut and run (informal), make a run for it, do a bunk (British, slang), scram (informal), fly the coop (US & Canadian, informal), show a clean pair of heels, skedaddle (informal), take a powder (US & Canadian, slang), take it on the lam (US & Canadian, slang)
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Someone did a runner with the camera he left in the conference room."
idiom
- to leave a place in order to avoid a difficult or unpleasant situation or to avoid paying for something
(Cambridge Dictionary)
Attaching the word "do" to a noun with the indefinite article "a" is simply an informal, slang way to express the act of "doing" something.
If you "do a number" on someone for instance, you harm or deceive them.
Some who "does a line" is snorting a powdered drug like cocaine.
If you radically reverse a stance or opinion on something, then you might be accused of "doing a one-eighty" (as in turning 180 degrees).
If you do a double-take, then you have to look twice to make sure you saw something correctly.
Are you attending a genuinely boring party or event? Then "do a fade" and leave quietly or sneak away.
If you tend to be a night owl and owe money that you don't have, then "do a midnight flit" and leave secretly at night.
And of course, speaking of leaving, if you "do a runner," then you leave someplace without paying or because you are in trouble with the law.
---
SYNONYMS
run away, escape, flee, take off, bolt, run off, clear out, beat it (slang), abscond, decamp, take flight, hook it (slang), scarper (British, slang), cut and run (informal), make a run for it, do a bunk (British, slang), scram (informal), fly the coop (US & Canadian, informal), show a clean pair of heels, skedaddle (informal), take a powder (US & Canadian, slang), take it on the lam (US & Canadian, slang)
---
SMUGGLE OWAD into today's conversation
"Someone did a runner with the camera he left in the conference room."
