run the clock down

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run the clock down (third-person singular simple present runs the clock down, present participle running the clock down, simple past ran the clock down, past participle run the clock down)

1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To run down the clock.
   • 1981, Norm Schachter, Close Calls: The Confessions of an NFL Referee, page 59:

     The only time I ever worried was when quarterbacks would run the clock down in the last 20 seconds […]

• run down the clock