“Run Out of Steam” means to lose the energy, enthusiasm, or momentum needed to continue. This guide focuses on current documented usage and does not assert unsupported origin chronology.
ReviewedEvidence1 sourceSectionPhrases & Idioms
Quick answer
It means to lose the energy, enthusiasm, or momentum needed to keep going.
Key details
Canonical Formrun out of steam
Core Meaningto lose the energy, enthusiasm, or momentum needed to continue
Further guidance
History Boundary
This guide establishes the documented modern meaning and does not claim an exact inventor, coinage date, or absolute first use.
Meaning
To lose the energy, enthusiasm, or momentum needed to continue.
Usage Boundary
Use the idiom only where its documented figurative meaning fits the context.
Sources and evidence
Sources are shown with the role they play in this guide. Historical or style-sensitive claims are kept within the evidence boundary described above.
“Go Out on a Limb” describes putting yourself in an exposed or risky position, including by taking an unpopular or uncertain stance. The guide keeps the two documented modern senses visible without asserting an unsupported first use.
“Make a Mountain Out of a Molehill” to make a small difficulty seem much more serious than it really is. This guide keeps the explanation at the documented modern meaning and does not turn an unsupported origin story into fact.
“Out of hand” can mean out of control; in the pattern “reject/dismiss out of hand,” it can also mean rejecting something completely without considering it. The guide separates these current senses without unsupported origin claims.
“A blessing in disguise” describes something that initially seems bad or unlucky but later produces a good result. Specialist history places the printed phrase in the mid-eighteenth century, while earlier texts may express similar ideas without proving the same idiom.
“A tough nut to crack” describes something difficult to solve or someone difficult to understand. Cambridge records both “hard” and “tough” in the idiom. This guide publishes the current meaning without asserting an exact historical first use.
“Add fuel to the fire” means to make an already difficult, angry, or contentious situation worse. The metaphor is transparent, but the historical record reviewed here supports only broad seventeenth-century chronology rather than an exact first use.
“Add insult to injury” means making an already bad situation worse by adding another upsetting or disadvantageous act. This guide records the modern dictionary meaning only and leaves exact origin chronology unclaimed.
“Against all odds” emphasizes success despite obstacles or an unfavorable likelihood. Cambridge also records “against (all) the odds,” so the guide treats those forms as part of the same current idiom rather than inventing separate origin claims.
