subs. (old).—A term of contempt: specifically of an old woman. Whence RUNTY = surly; boorish. Also a short, squat man or woman [cf. WELSH RUNTS = small cattle].
1614. FLETCHER, Wit without Money, v. 2. Before I buy a bargain of such RUNTS, I’ll buy a college for bears, and live among ’em.
1711. ADDISON, Spectator, No. 108. This overgrown RUNT has struck off his heels, lowered his foretop, and contracted his figure, that he might be looked upon as a member of this newly erected Society [The Short Club].
1721. CENTLIVRE, The Artifice, iii. This city spoils all servants: I took a Welsh RUNT last spring.
1848. W. T. THOMPSON, Major Jones’s Sketches of Travel, 115. ‘No indeed,’ ses another little RUNTY-lookin feller—‘we’ve got enuff to do to take care of our own babys in these diggins.’
