Definition
to continue operating with very little energy remaining
Examples
1) The marathon runner was running on fumes by the time he reached the finish
line.
2) He felt like he was running on fumes during the presentation.
Etymology
The term originated from the literal meaning of vehicles running on fumes,
where "fumes" refer to the vapors of a nearly empty fuel tank.
Synonyms
stretching thin, struggling to keep going
- englishdaily626.com [edited]
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I wonder whether whoever wrote the first example sentence had finished a
marathon because the few I did, I always dashed over the last few hundred yards.
I do remember running on fumes, however, before college in every 1500m test in
PE. A short boy, pudgy from sitting for long hours and eating processed food,
alone on the sun-baked dirt tracks, heart pounding, and gasping for air, inched
like a worm toward the finish line.
