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Of American-English origin, the colloquial phrase to run on fumes, and its variants, mean:
– (of a vehicle or engine): to operate with little or no fuel in the tank;
– (hence, of a person or team, originally in sports): to function despite having little or no energy left.
1-: Early literal uses of the phrase to run on fumes:
These are, in chronological order, the earliest literal uses of the phrase to run on fumes and variants that I have found:
1.1-: From Author! Author!, by Cliff Taylor, published in the Erie Sunday Times (Erie, Pennsylvania, USA) of Sunday 6th April 1952 [page 4—A, column 7]:
We have been so broke that we haven’t been able to have a full tank of gas in the car for months. And half the time the engine must run on fumes from the empty gas tank.
1.2-: From the following advertisement for Monahan’s Nash Garage, Inc., published in The Bellingham Herald (Bellingham, Washington, USA) of Thursday 20th November 1952 [page 12, column 8]:
STRIKE OIL!
Just like striking oil to buy one of these cars at these low prices.
1951 AUSTIN. Will run on the fumes of a gas well . . . . . $1.195
1.3-: From the column Hordovers *, by Ace Comstock, published in the Island County Times (Coupeville, Washington, USA) of Thursday 22nd October 1953 [page 2, column 4]:
Why is it that women seem to think that the car will run on gasoline fumes after the tank is empty and how come they very rarely do get stranded by lack of petrol.
* The noun hordovers is a humorous and colloquial alteration of hors d’oeuvres, the plural form of the noun hors d’oeuvre—cf. ‘horse doovers’: meaning and origin.
1.4-: From Elgin Naval Pilot Wins Battle Against North Atlantic Fog, by Emil Reutzel Jr., published in The Neligh News (Neligh, Nebraska, USA) of Thursday 22nd October 1953 [page 1, column 1]:
On Wednesday, Sept. 23, […] at 1:30 in the afternoon, with visibility normally good, […] aircraft from three carriers […] took off for a flight […].
After that 1:30 launch, fog closed down suddenly on the fast carrier task force 450 miles southeast of Greenland. Of the 52 planes in the air, 10 were able to land aboard their carriers just as the fog closed in. That left 42.
[…]
There was but one choice, stay aloft and pray for a break in the weather.
Up there with the group was Lt. (jg) Paul Merchant, 24, of Elgin […].
[…]
[…] He kept a close check on the fuel. Like the 41 other pilots, he was “running on fumes,” making the fuel stretch as far as possible.
2-: Early figurative uses of the phrase to run on fumes:
These are, in chronological order, the earliest figurative uses of the phrase to run on fumes and variants that I have found:
2.1-: From The Detroit Free Press (Detroit, Michigan, USA) of Tuesday 13th October 1959 [page 35, columns 1 & 2]:
VEECK ON WHITE SOX:
‘Running on Fumes’CHICAGO—(AP)—“The Chicago White Sox went farther with less than any club in major league baseball,” club president Bill Veek [sic] said Monday.
2.2-: From an interview of the U.S. football player Chuck Bednarik (1925-2015), by Larry Merchant, published in the Philadelphia Daily News (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA) of Tuesday 21st November 1961 [page 43, column 4]:
Bednarik said he had no plans at present on prolonging his career.
“If we had a championship club it would be tough to quit,” he said. “But my wife wants me to quit and I have to think of her and the family. When you start running on fumes instead of gas, it’s time to go.”
2.3-: From Tiger Dream Collapses As Team Folds, published in the Fort Lauderdale News (Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA) of Thursday 7th November 1963 [page 1D, column 2]—“All six teams” refers to the Florida Football League:
All six teams have collapsed . . . even our own Ft. Lauderdale Tigers have run out of gas. The fact is the Tigers ran out of gas a long time ago. They ran on fumes and smoke all year . . . as did the other five teams in league.
2.4-: From an account of the boxing match between Tony Neves and Johnny Ball that took place on Monday 20th July 1964 at the Eastern States Exposition Coliseum, Springfield—account by Gordie Anziano, published in The Springfield Union (Springfield, Massachusetts, USA) of Tuesday 21st July 1964 [page 26, column 4]:
Neves, out of gas and running on fumes, used a bruising left hand to keep the cat-like Ball away in the third and decisive round. Ball was obviously the better-conditioned, but couldn’t nail the sneaky Neves.
