A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

run like a deer • run like a hairy goat
run like a deer —(hyperbolic) run very fast: The boy was far
ahead running like a deer.
run like a hairy goat—(Austral sl.) 
1
. = run like a deer: He
ran like a hairy goat. It was his best race. 2. run very slowly:
Everything was OK until last week when I noticed the car was
running like a hairy goat.
Note: 
a) Neither expression is equivalent in meaning to the
phrase run like wild-fire—(of news, rumors, etc.) spread very
swiftly and forcibly: Though I was at that time rich in fame —
for my book ran like wild-fire — yet I was very short in money.
b) Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase
run like a clock
—(of machines, etc.) function with steady reg-
ularity, with no trouble: There wasn’t anything in the motor
which needed fixing. It was running like a clock.
run out at something • run out on something
run out at something —(also: run up to something ) amount
to a figure mentioned; reach a sum: With hospitals making
about 50 million outpatients’ appointments a year, the annual
cost of missed appointments runs out at more than £300 mil-
lion.
run out on something —abandon one’s responsibility for
smth.; fail to fulfil an agreement, etc.: We should not have a
situation where people can run out on their obligations to
others.
run out of time • run out the clock
run out of time —have no more time left: With queens on
the board both players were forced to move at lightening speed,
and it was Grischuk who ran out of time first.
run out the clock —(Sport) keep the ball away from the op -
posing team at the end of a game so that they cannot score:
The early season loss to the Eagles came about because of the
team’s inability to run out the clock.