Meaning:
To easily outrun or outclass an opponent.
Background:
`Running rings around' originated as an English hunting term. It was used by
fox-hunters but more often by those indulging in hare-coursing, which is now
banned in the UK. The circling runs made by the hare in its attempts to
outrun the chasing greyhounds were called rings.
`Running rings around' is found in the 1875 Coursing Calendar:
Ace-of-Trumps was immensely her superior, making rings round her, and
winning all one way.
The figurative use of the phrase, which refers to people being outwitted or
outclassed rather than outrun, began being used in the late 19th century.
Several of these early uses come from Australia and New Zealand; for example,
this piece from the New Zealand newspaper The Waikato Times, November 1880:
Failing Mr Clark's acceptance of the invitation to become a candidate [for
election as Mayor], there are several other well-known citizens who could
"run rings" around Mr Larkins.
The alternative form of the expression is `run circles around', which came
into being later again, around the turn of the 10th century. This form is
entirely disassociated from the source hunting context and was coined in the
USA and is still used there, whereas most other English-speaking countries
prefer the original 'run rings' version. An example of it is found in the New
York newspaper The Syracuse Standard, July 1897:
The speedy Herreshoff flyer... could run circles around any of the craft
running between Clayton and the Bay.
- www.phrases.org.uk [edited]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an early podcast, Joe Rogan, the podcaster, pointed out how one could "talk
circles around" a foreigner while the poor victim, perhaps an ESL and immigrant
like me, floundered in the seemingly kaleidic miasma of English idioms and
slangs.
