Q.
What are some little used or near-obsolete words to describe the act of running?

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A.

Absquattle
To run away

Dust
To flee

Fisk
To run rather haphazardly

Hie
To move quickly

Hobbledygee
Somewhere between a walk and a jog

Jaunce
To run about willy nilly; to prance.

As Shakespeare’s Nurse says to Juliet: ‘Beshrew your heart for sending me about / To catch my death with jauncing up and down!’

Light-Heeled
A fast runner

Pelt
To run quickly

Pike
To run away

Scarper
To flee

Scud
To run quickly

Sherry
To run away

Skirr
To flee, to dash away.

Another visit to Shakespeare whose Henry V says:

‘Take a trumpet, herald.
Ride thou unto the horsemen on yond hill.
If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
Or void the field. They do offend our sight.
If they’ll do neither, we will come to them
And make them skirr away as swift as stones.’

Spank
To run steadily at a good clip

Take Heel
To run away

Transcur
To run here and there, back and forth

Vease
To take a running jump

Whip Off
To flee

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Header Photo: Rémi Jacquaint