ride
verbUS, UK /ɹaɪd/
Etymology
From Middle English riden, from Old English rīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *rīdan, from Proto-Germanic *rīdaną (“to ride”), from Proto-Indo-European *Hreydʰ- (“to ride”), from *h₃reyH- (“to move”), from *h₃er- (“to move, stir”). Cognates From Proto-Germanic: North Frisian ride, ridj, rir (“to ride”), West Frisian ride (“to ride”), Dutch rijden, ryden (“to ride; to drive”), German reiten, reuten (“to ride”), German Low German rieden (“to ride; to drive”), Limburgish rieje (“to ride; to drive”), Luxembourgish reiden (“to ride”), Vilamovian raeita, rajta (“to ride”), Danish ride (“to ride”), Faroese and Icelandic ríða (“to ride”), Norwegian Bokmål ri, ride (“to ride”), Norwegian Nynorsk ri, rida, ride (“to ride”), Swedish rida (“to ride”). From Indo-European: Cornish ardh (“height”), Irish arad, ard, árd (“high, tall”), Manx ard (“high, tall”), Scottish Gaelic àrd (“high”), Welsh ardd (“hill, upland”), Latin irrītō (“to excite, incite, stimulate; to exasperate”), Ancient Greek ὀρῑ́νω (orī́nō, “to move, stir”), Albanian rashë (“to have fallen; to have flopped”), Russian ре́ять (réjatʹ, “to fly, hover, soar”), Armenian հառնել (haṙnel, “to get up; to rise up”), Northern Kurdish rîtin (“to shit”), Persian ریدن (ridan, “to shit; to fuck up, to screw up”), Tocharian A ar- (“to evoke; to produce, yield”), Tocharian B er- (“to evoke; to produce, yield”), Hittite 𒅈𒉡𒊻𒍣 (ar-nu-uz-zi, “to address, send”), Sanskrit रीति (rīti, “course, motion; current, stream; line, row”).
20 senses
- 1To transport oneself by sitting on and directing a…
- 2To be transported in a vehicle; to travel as a passenger.
- 3To transport (someone) in a vehicle.
- 4Of a ship: to sail, to float on the water.
- 5To be carried or supported by something lightly and…
- 6To traverse by riding.
- 7To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.
- 8To exploit or take advantage of (a situation).
- 9To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle.
- 10To mount (someone) to have sex with them.
- 11To have sex with (someone).
- 12To nag or criticize; to annoy (someone).
- 13Of clothing: to gradually move (up) and crease; to ruckle.
- 14To rely, depend (on).
- 15Of clothing: to rest (in a given way on a part of the body).
- 16To play defense on the defensemen or midfielders, as an…
- 17To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.
- 18To overlap (each other); said of bones or fractured fragments.
- 19To monitor (some component of an audiovisual signal) in…
- 20In jazz, to play in a steady rhythmical style.
Ambitransitive To transport oneself by sitting on and directing a horse, later also a bicycle etc.
- I ride to work every day and park the bike outside the office.
- Go Peto, to horse: for thou, and I, / Haue thirtie miles to ride yet ere dinner time.c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
4 more examples
- […] I will take my horse early to-morrow morning and ride over to Stoke, and settle with one of them.1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 310:
- He rid to the end of the village, where he alighted and ſent a man thence to Mr. Tuſher with a meſſage that a gentleman of London would ſpeak to him on urgent buſineſs.1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “I Go on the Vigo Bay Expedition, Taste Salt Water and Smell Powder”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume II, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 96:
- It is characteristic of her that she hates trains, that she arrives from a rail-road journey a nervous wreck; but that she can ride a horse steadily for weeks through the most dangerous western passes.1923 April 28, “Mrs. Rinehart”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC:
- 'He would have rid that horse, too,' pa says, 'if I hadn't a stopped him. A durn spotted critter wilder than a catty-mount. A deliberate flouting of her and me.'1930, William Faulkner, “Darl”, in As I Lay Dying (Penguin Modern Classics), Harmondsworth, Middlesex [London]: Penguin Books in association with Chatto & Windus, published 1980, →ISBN, page 81:
Ambitransitive To be transported in a vehicle; to travel as a passenger.
- Now, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the practised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:
- In an elaborately built, indoor San Francisco, passengers ride cable cars through quiet, hilly streets.1960 June 20, “Biznelcmd”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC:
South Africa, US, Informal To transport (someone) in a vehicle.
- The cab rode him downtown.
- 'Hurt him considerably. Ride him down to Bellevue Hospital and dump him nearby. Got that?' 'Yassuh.' 'Don't be seen.' 'Nossuh.'1954, Ian Fleming, “No Sensayuma”, in Live and Let Die, London: Pan Books, published 1957, page 73:
Of a ship: to sail, to float on the water.
- Why name I ev'ry Place where Youths abound? / 'Tis Loſs of Time; and a too fruitful Ground. / The Bajan Baths, where Ships at Anchor ride, / And wholeſome Streams from Sulphur Fountains glide: […]a. 1701, [John] Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid, Ovid’s Art of Love. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC, pages 19–20:
- By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home […]1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
To be carried or supported by something lightly and quickly; to travel in such a way, as though on horseback.
- The witch cackled and rode away on her broomstick.
To traverse by riding.
- Early women tobogganists rode the course in the requisite attire of their day: skirts. In spite of this hindrance, some women riders turned in very respectable performances.1999, David Levinson, Karen Christensen, Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present:
To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.
- How many races have you ridden this year?
- The only men that safe can ride / Mine errands on the Scottish side.1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “(please specify the introduction or canto number, or chapter name)”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC:
Figuratively To exploit or take advantage of (a situation).
- Now the question is: Can Lema ride his present impetus to a third tournament victory in the pressure-loaded Open or will he run out of steam?1964 June 16, “All Eyes On Lema At U.S. Open This Week”, in The Indianapolis Star, volume 62, number 11, Indianapolis, Ind., page 22:
- By labeling milk free of the artificial hormone, the dairy industry can ride the popularity of natural foods, without the greater expense and special feeds required to produce milk that can be fully certified as “organic.”2006 October 7, Andrew Pollack, “Which Cows Do You Trust?”, in The New York Times:
To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle.
- A horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.
Ambitransitive, Slang To mount (someone) to have sex with them.
- Cowboy. That's what he calls me when we are like this. It's as if I'm sitting in a saddle and he is my horse. And when he starts to buck, I ride.1986, Sidney Brinkley, “Passion”, in Joseph Beam, editor, In The Life: A Black Gay Anthology, page 131:
- She rode him hard, and he squeezed her breasts, and she came again.1997, Linda Howard, Son of the Morning, page 345:
1 more example
- Isis rode my mug like she was on a ten-inch dick, and as soon as she nutted I tossed her ass off a me and flipped her on her back, then fucked the shit outta her cause it was payback time.2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 152:
Colloquial To nag or criticize; to annoy (someone).
- “One old boy started riding me about not having gone to Vietnam; I just spit my coffee at him, and he backed off.2002, Myra MacPherson, Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the haunted generation, page 375:
Of clothing: to gradually move (up) and crease; to ruckle.
- In athletics, triple jumper Ashia Hansen advises a thong for training because, while knickers ride up, ‘thongs have nowhere left to go’: but in Beijing Britain's best are likely, she says, to forgo knickers altogether, preferring to go commando for their country under their GB kit.2008 July 27, Ann Kessel, The Guardian:
To rely, depend (on).
- With so much riding on the new payments system, it was thus a grave embarrassment to the government when the tariff for 2006-07 had to be withdrawn for amendments towards the end of February.2006 March 9, “Grappling with deficits”, in The Economist:
Of clothing: to rest (in a given way on a part of the body).
- She's wearing inky-blue jeans that ride low enough on her hips that her aquamarine thong peeks out teasingly at the back.2001 September 16, Jenny Eliscu, “Oops...she's doing it again”, in The Observer:
Ball games, Games, Hobbies, Lacrosse, Lifestyle, Sports To play defense on the defensemen or midfielders, as an attackman.
To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.
- The nobility[…] could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, coblers[sic], brewers, and the like.1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit:
Broadcasting, Media, Radio, Television To monitor (some component of an audiovisual signal) in order to keep it within acceptable bounds.
- vocal riding
- The board operator normally watches the meter scale marked for modulation percentage, riding the gain to bring volume peaks into the 85% to 100% range.2006, Simran Kohli, Radio Jockey Handbook:
1 more example
- “You don't want them riding the volume knob, so that's why you learn how to do your levels properly to make the whole thing transparent for the listener. […]2017, Michael O'Connell, Turn Up the Volume: A Down and Dirty Guide to Podcasting, page 22:
Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music In jazz, to play in a steady rhythmical style.
- The quintet in Propheticape muses out-of-measured-time until Holland leads it into swift, riding jazz.2000, Max Harrison, Charles Fox, Eric Thacker, The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to postmodernism, page 238:
- Derived terms
95 terms
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