The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 8 letter word ESCAPING
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Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "Running away" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case running away = escaping.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.
What does ESCAPING mean?
ESCAPING verb- To get free; to free oneself.
- To avoid (any unpleasant person or thing); to elude, get away from.
- To avoid capture; to get away with something, avoid punishment.
- To elude the observation or notice of; to not be seen or remembered by.
- To cause (a single character, or all such characters in a string) to be interpreted literally, instead of with any special meaning it would usually have in the same context, often by prefixing with another character.
- To halt a program or command by pressing a key (such as the "Esc" key) or combination of keys.
- The act of one who escapes; an escape.
- That which escapes or leaks out; an emission.