Run-on
Run-on turns up in 2 fields: machine shop, printing. Here is what it means to the people in each one.
Run-on in machine shop
The continued spinning of a machine spindle or tool after the power has been cut.
The freewheeling period where a heavy chuck, grinding wheel, or spindle keeps rotating due to inertia after the motor is turned off. It represents a safety hazard in older machines lacking electronic brakes, requiring the operator to wait for a complete stop before reaching in.
"Watch out for the run-on with that massive faceplate, it takes a good two minutes to stop spinning."
Run on in printing
A typesetting instruction to continue text on the same line without breaking for a new paragraph.
In typesetting and copyediting, this command dictates that text should flow continuously rather than dropping down to start a new paragraph. Editors mark manuscripts with a connecting loop to show the typesetter that a hard return was a mistake or that two separate blocks of text should merge. It saves space and fixes formatting errors where text was improperly broken during layout.
"The author wants to run on the dialogue here, so pull that next sentence up and delete the indent."