run for one's money
English
Etymology
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation
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Noun
a run for one's money
- (idiomatic) A difficult challenge for the person indicated, especially one involving a competitive situation.
- 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company Limited, OCLC 3716058:
- Since the beginning of the world all men have hunted me like a wolf—kings and sages, and poets and lawgivers, all the churches, and all the philosophies. But I have never been caught yet, and the skies will fall in the time I turn to bay. I have given them a good run for their money, and I will now.
- 1918, Peter B. Kyne, The Valley of the Giants, ch. 24:
- "If your competitor regards you as a menace to his pocketbook, he can give you a nice little run for your money and delay you indefinitely."
- 2003, Mitch Frank, "Why Primaries Matter," Time, 3 April:
- After beating Bush in New Hampshire, McCain gave him a two month run for his money. Bush had to prove he wasn't just a famous name.
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- (idiomatic, dated) A reasonable opportunity to succeed, perform acceptably, or escape harm, especially in a difficult situation.
- 1913, Rudyard Kipling, Letters of Travel, ch. 18:
- He appealed and, by some arrangement or other, got leave to state his case personally to the Court of Revision. Said, I believe, that he did not much trust lawyers, but that if the sahibs would give him a hearing, as man to man, he might have a run for his money.
- 1917, William MacLeod Raine, The Sheriff's Son, ch. 11:
- "I say he'll get a run for his money. If there's any killing to be done, it will be in fair fight."
- 1913, Rudyard Kipling, Letters of Travel, ch. 18:
Usage notes
- Usually preceded by the verb to give followed by a noun or pronoun which functions as an indirect object identifying the person(s) receiving the run for their money:
- We gave him a run for his money.
Translations
a difficult challenge for the person indicated
See also
- have one's work cut out for one
- money's worth
Further reading
- “Run for the money, to have a” in [John Camden Hotten], The Slang Dictionary […], 5th edition, London: Chatto and Windus, 1874, page 274.