These verbs refer to movement on foot that is faster than walking. Run is the most general word. To run is to move by regular, bounding steps in such a way that both feet are off the ground during part of each step. Running is a rapid, continuous motion and usually implies haste. A person may run in pursuit, in order to escape, out of eagerness, for exercise or towards a goal in competition: to run for the bus; to runs away from an assailant; to run to meet a friend; to run in a race. To race is to run very fast, often at top speed. Race implies urgency in running . It may suggest the pressing need to reach a goal in time: They raced for cover when the enemy opened fire. It may focus on a challenge, an attempt to outstrip competition in a contest of speed: I’ll race you to the corner. Horses and dogs are raced on racecourses as a form of sport. Athletes race in track events, as in the 100-yard dash, the mile run , or the relay. To sprint is to run at top speed, typically for a short distance; to sprint a quarter mile. As a noun, sprint may denote a short race run at full speed throughout. But sprint may also indicate a short burst of speed in the course of a longer race , especially in the home stretch: He passed the leader on the outside and sprinted over the finishing line.

Trot and jog emphasize the up-and-down motion of restrained running . To trot is to go at a brisk, bouncy gait midway between a walk and a run. When a horse or other quadruped trots he moves one front leg and the opposite hind leg together, then changes to the other diagonal pair: The dog trotted up, wagging his tail. When a person trots he bobs up and down, body upright and knees lifted high, shifting his weight from leg to leg, but maintaining a quick, constant pace.

• The child trotted obediently after his nurse; The runner trotted round the park to keep in condition.

To jog is to go at a steady, unhurried trot . Where trot may imply a need for moderate speed, jog suggests the slow, jolting pace of one who is in no rush.

• The tireless old fellow jogged along, completing his first lap round the block; The messenger boy jogged back to the office.

Other specific animal gaits, of horses in particular, are gallop , canter and pace . Gallop is the most rapid movement; during a period in each stride the animal is entirely off the ground, with all four legs flexed beneath the body. A canter is a moderate gallop , with shorter, less energetic movements. Both these words are used informally for other running creatures. Pace is restricted to horses; it is a gait similar to trot except that the off-side legs move in unison and then the near-side. Customarily, pacers have hopples on their legs.

Where jog and trot denote workaday, sometimes humorous, ways of running, when applied to people, lope stresses the freedom of a leisurely and swinging gait. A person or animal that lopes is free from strain or pressure and is able to maintain his speed for a long time without tiring. Applied to quadrupeds, lope indicates an easy, bounding movement or relaxed, slow-motion running: the grace and ease of a fox loping along. A horse that lopes moves at a slow, easy gallop or canter , applied to persons, lope suggests along, loose, swinging stride in walking.

In a looser sense, run may mean simply to hurry off; Oh dear, I’m late; I’ve got to run. Race may mean to rush or dash: She raced to the phone. Trot suggests determination but may imply no more than a trick, hurried walk: I’ll trot up there in my lunch hour. In a figurative sense, run may mean to be a candidate and race may indicate any competitive contest: to run for office; to run in an electoral race. Jog , on the other hand, suggests an utter lack of competitiveness, an easy-going indifference: he jogs along doing odd jobs, seemingly unconcerned about his future. Race may also suggest the tendency or compulsion to speed towards a goal: Her thoughts raced ahead, anticipating the solution. Or it may emphasize the desperate need to utilize time to the utmost: Doctors raced against the clock to save his life.