end run

An evasive maneuver, a diversion. The term, dating from about 1900, is a transfer from football, where it denotes a running play in which the ball carrier runs around the defensive end. It soon was transferred to other contexts. An editorial in the Boston Globe about allowing drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge had it: “. . . they now plan to include drilling in the budget bill, which cannot be filibustered. Senators should see this gim- mick for the procedural end run it is, and reject it.” (Jan. 31, 2005).