Ran out with the boys (7)
I believe the answer is:
petered
'ran out' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are past participle verbs.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'the boys' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'the' could be 't' (the is pronounced as a 't' sound in some dialects) and 't' is present in the answer.
The remaining letters 'peered' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't understand.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'with' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Another definition for petered that I've seen is " exhausted".)