run on empty
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
to continue to function or operate with little or no energy
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
Tiếp tục hoạt động với rất ít hoặc không có năng lượng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: a vehicle running without fuel
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
The team has been running on empty since their star player left
AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.
Common questions
What does “run on empty” mean?
to continue to function or operate with little or no energy Literally: a vehicle running without fuel
Is “run on empty” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.