Definition of "running mate" [running mate]

• The candidate or nominee for the lesser of two closely associated political offices. (noun)
• A companion. (noun)
• A horse used to set the pace in a race for another horse. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A friend meets up with me in Tennessee and brings me a couple of vials of my running mate from Italy, Parabolin, to get me over the hump."
• "On a Texas swing soon afterward, McGovern and his newly minted running mate motorcaded to the LBJ ranch to meet with the former president."