run·ner (rŭńər)

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noun 

1. Sports One who competes in a race.
2. 1. Baseball One who runs the bases.
   2. Football One who carries the ball.
3. A fugitive.
4. One who carries messages or runs errands.
5. One who serves as an agent or collector, as for a bank or brokerage house.
6. One who solicits business, as for a hotel or store.
7. 1. A smuggler: a narcotics runner.
   2. A vessel engaged in smuggling.
8. One who operates or manages something: the runner of a series of gambling operations.
9. A device in or on which something slides or moves, as:
   1. The blade of a skate.
   2. The supports on which a drawer slides.
10. A long narrow carpet.
11. A long narrow tablecloth.
12. A roller towel.
13. Metallurgy A channel along which molten metal is poured into a mold; a gate.
14. Botany
    1. A slender creeping stem that puts forth roots from nodes spaced at intervals along its length.
    2. A plant, such as the strawberry, having such a stem.
    3. A twining vine, such as the scarlet runner.
15. Any of several marine fishes of the family Carangidae, especially the blue runner (Caranx crysos), of temperate waters of the American Atlantic coast. Also called blue runner
16. Sports See flat¹

flat¹ (flăt)

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[Middle English, from Old Norse flatr.]

adjective: flat·ter, flat·test. 

1. Having a horizontal surface without a slope, tilt, or curvature.
2. Having a smooth, even, level surface: a skirt sewed with fine flat seams.
3. Having a relatively broad surface in relation to thickness or depth: a flat board. See synonyms at level
4. Stretched out or lying at full length along the ground; prone.
5. Free of qualification; absolute: a flat refusal.
6. Fixed; unvarying: a flat rate.
7. Lacking interest or excitement; dull: a flat scenario.
8. 1. Lacking in flavor: a flat stew that needs salt.
   2. Having lost effervescence or sparkle: flat beer.
9. 1. Deflated. Used of a tire.
   2. Electrically discharged. Used of a storage battery.
10. Of or relating to a horizontal line that displays no ups or downs and signifies the absence of physiological activity: A flat electroencephalogram indicates a loss of brain function.
11. Commercially inactive; sluggish: flat sales for the month.
12. Unmodulated; monotonous: a flat voice.
13. Lacking variety in tint or shading; uniform: “The sky was bright but flat, the color of oyster shells” (Anne Tyler)
14. Not glossy; mat: flat paint.
15. Music
    1. Being below the correct pitch.
    2. Being one half step lower than the corresponding natural key: the key of B flat.
16. Designating the vowel a as pronounced in bad or cat.
17. Nautical Taut. Used of a sail.

adverb 

1. 1. Level with the ground; horizontally.
   2. On or up against a flat surface; at full length.
2. So as to be flat.
3. 1. Directly; completely: went flat against the rules; flat broke.
   2. Exactly; precisely: arrived in six minutes flat.
4. Music Below the intended pitch.
5. Business Without interest charge.

noun 

1. A flat surface or part.
2. A stretch of level ground. Often used in the plural: salt flats.
3. A shallow frame or box for seeds or seedlings.
4. A movable section of stage scenery, usually consisting of a wooden frame and a decorated panel of wood or cloth.
5. A flatcar.
6. A deflated tire.
7. A shoe with a flat heel.
8. A large flat piece of mail.
9. A horse that competes in a flat race. Also called runner
10. Music
    1. A sign (♭) used to indicate that a note is to be lowered by a half step.
    2. A note that is lowered a half step.
11. Football The area of the field to either side of an offensive formation.

verb: flat·ted, flat·ting, flats. 

transitive verb 

1. To make flat; flatten.
2. Music To lower (a note) a semitone.

intransitive verb 

Music

To sing or play below the proper pitch.

derivatives

flat́ly

adverb

flat́ness

noun