*runner*

n. a competitor thought to be most likely to win.
Syn. -- favorite, favourite. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

‖n. [ G. Marcobrunner. ] A celebrated Rhine wine. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. An offshoot; a branch. [ R. ] “Some outrunner of the river.” Lauson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One that overruns. Lovelace. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Run. ] 1. One who, or that which, runs; a racer. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A detective. [ Slang, Eng. ] Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A messenger. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. A smuggler. [ Colloq. ] R. North. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. One employed to solicit patronage, as for a steamboat, hotel, shop, etc. [ Cant, U.S. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

6. (Bot.) A slender trailing branch which takes root at the joints or end and there forms new plants, as in the strawberry and the common cinquefoil. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. The rotating stone of a set of millstones. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Naut.) A rope rove through a block and used to increase the mechanical power of a tackle. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. One of the pieces on which a sled or sleigh slides; also the part or blade of a skate which slides on the ice. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. (Founding) (a) A horizontal channel in a mold, through which the metal flows to the cavity formed by the pattern; also, the waste metal left in such a channel. (b) A trough or channel for leading molten metal from a furnace to a ladle, mold, or pig bed. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. The movable piece to which the ribs of an umbrella are attached. [ 1913 Webster ]

12. (Zool.) A food fish (Elagatis pinnulatus) of Florida and the West Indies; -- called also skipjack, shoemaker, and yellowtail. The name alludes to its rapid successive leaps from the water. [ 1913 Webster ]

13. (Zool.) Any cursorial bird. [ 1913 Webster ]

14. (Mech.) (a) A movable slab or rubber used in grinding or polishing a surface of stone. (b) A tool on which lenses are fastened in a group, for polishing or grinding. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ etc. } One that starts from the scratch; hence, one of first-rate ability. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]