run rings around

Related to run rings around: without a hitch

run rings around (someone or something)

1. To move much faster than someone or something. A: "Hey, wanna race?" B: "No way, I'm too out of shape. You would run rings around me!" My sports car is going to run rings around your pokey little station wagon!
2. To do something much better or more efficiently than someone or something. Let me try playing that video game with you—I bet I could run rings around you guys! When it comes to processing power, Spikerosoft's new machine runs rings around Flapple's.
See also: around, ring, run
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

run rings around

Also, run circles around. Be markedly superior to, as in Ethan runs rings around David in chess, or In spelling, Karen runs circles around her classmates. The first term, dating from the late 1800s, alludes to a horse running around a riding ring much faster than the others.
See also: around, ring, run
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

run ˈrings around/round somebody/something

(informal) do something very well and so make your opponent look foolish: I don’t want to compete against her in the debate, she’ll run rings around me.
See also: around, ring, round, run, somebody, something
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary

run circles/rings around, to

To defeat decisively in a contest; to outdo. The implication here is that a runner moving in circles can still beat another running in a straight line. The term began to appear in print in the 1890s. “He could run rings round us in everything,” wrote G. Parker in the Westminster Gazette (1894).
See also: circle, ring, run
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • run rings around (someone or something)
  • run rings around someone
  • run rings around/round somebody/something
  • run rings round (someone or something)
  • run rings round someone
  • run circles around
  • run circles around (someone or something)
  • run circles around someone
  • run circles round (someone or something)
  • run circles/rings around, to
References in periodicals archive
The ex-Chancellor will be pitted against Business Secretary Peter Mandelson who has run rings around opponents since his return from Brussels.
Desperate Tories bring back Clarke; RESHUFFLE
HARLEQUINS prop Gareth Haggerty hopes a lightweight Ireland pack can run rings around their heavyweight Samoan opponents in tomorrow'sWorld Cup Pool C decider at Parramatta.
IRISH 'WILL PUNCH ABOVE OUR WEIGHT'
They would run rings around Fowler and Hasselbaink.
Letter: Elaine has such style
YOUNGSTERS who think they can run rings around the adults on the football pitch are being given the chance to prove it.
Youngsters urged to tackle the grown-ups; TAMWORTH
It just shows you can run rings around the world - as he did so recently - but you still can't escape the wagging finger that reminds you that `at your age' you should somehow know better!
Avril Deane
THE makers of Lord of the Rings are unleashing a secret weapon in a bid to run rings around its chief rival Harry Potter.
Lord of Rings sneak footage
MEAN Girls star Lindsay Lohan had better be sharper than this if she wants to run rings around us.
3am: Lindsay rings the changes
Rachael Micallef, TV Licensing spokeswoman for Wales, said: "TV Licensing's database of more than 29 million UK addresses means that our enquiry officers run rings around would-be evaders.
TV licence warning for Olympics fans
Stuttgart surely had the hardest match - they were playing an entire planet (and not a small one, either) away from home, with the task of trying to run rings around them!
CHATROOM; The best of your emails and texts
HONOURED: Sam Perrie lets the children run rings around her; SKIP TO IT: Sam with some of the children she cares for before and after school
Playworker is honoured for her work with schoolchildren
He always has a trick up his sleeve and I enjoy watching him run rings around the opposition.
Wright Stuff: Thierry Henry