run like a deer —(hyperbolic) run very fast:
- The boy was far ahead running like a deer.
run like a hairy goat—(Austral sl.)
1. = run like a deer:
- He ran like a hairy goat. It was his best race.
2. run very slowly:
- Everything was OK until last week when I noticed the car was running like a hairy goat.
Note:
a) Neither expression is equivalent in meaning to the phrase run like wild-fire—(of news, rumors, etc.) spread very swiftly and forcibly:
- Though I was at that time rich in fame—for my book ran like wild-fire—yet I was very short in money.
b) Neither expression correlates in meaning with the phrase run like a clock—(of machines, etc.) function with steady regularity, with no trouble:
- There wasn’t anything in the motor which needed fixing. It was running like a clock.