run up against (someone or something)
run up against (someone or something)
1. To collide with and continue pressing against someone or something while moving forward. A big truck ran up against us on the highway and nearly forced us off the road! Watch where you're walking! You keep running up against me on the trail.
2. To cause someone to collide with or press against someone or something, especially while still moving. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "run" and "up." The mule kept running me up against the side of the cliff as we made our way down into the Grand Canyon. You're running the tires up against the curb every time you take such tight turns. The detective grabbed the suspect by the collar and ran him up against the wall.
3. To encounter or come into conflict with some problematic, difficult, or encumbering person or thing, especially suddenly or unexpectedly. We're running up against an issue with the app's ability to access the server when signing a user in to their account. Just be aware that you're likely to run up against some resistance from your opponent's old cronies. We always run up against the board of directors whenever we come up with some innovative idea that's at all risky.
4. In sports, to score a much larger number of points against one's opponent than is needed to win. In this usage, a noun or pronoun is used between "run" and "up." After pulling ahead in the third quarter, the team spent the rest of the game running it up on their cross-town rivals. We knew we weren't going to win against them, so our main goal was to not let them run the score up against us.
See also: run, up
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.
- get up against
- get up against (someone or something)
- clash
- clash against
- clash against (someone or something)
- against
- against (someone or something)
- fortify (someone or something) against (something) with (something)
- hit against
- hit against (someone or something)