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Webster 1913 Edition

Ride

Ride

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp.
Rode
(rōd)
(
Rid
[rĭd],
archaic
);
p. p.
Ridden
(
Rid
,
archaic
);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Riding
.]
[AS.
rīdan
; akin to LG.
riden
, D.
rijden
, G.
reiten
, OHG.
rītan
, Icel.
rīða
, Sw.
rida
, Dan.
ride
; cf. L.
raeda
a carriage, which is from a Celtic word. Cf.
Road
.]
1.
To be carried on the back of an animal, as a horse.
To-morrow, when ye
riden
by the way.
Chaucer.
Let your master
ride
on before, and do you gallop after him.
Swift.
2.
To be borne in a carriage;
as, to
ride
in a coach, in a car, and the like
. See Synonym, below.
The richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not by
riding
in gilden carriages, but by walking the streets with trains of servants.
Macaulay.
3.
To be borne or in a fluid; to float; to lie.
Men once walked where ships at anchor
ride
.
Dryden.
4.
To be supported in motion; to rest.
Strong as the exletree
On which heaven
rides
.
Shakespeare
On whose foolish honesty
My practices
ride
easy!
Shakespeare
5.
To manage a horse, as an equestrian.
He
rode
, he fenced, he moved with graceful ease.
Dryden.
6.
To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle;
as, a horse
rides
easy or hard, slow or fast
.
To ride easy
(Naut.)
,
to lie at anchor without violent pitching or straining at the cables.
–
To ride hard
(Naut.)
,
to pitch violently.
–
To ride out
.
(a)
To go upon a military expedition.
[Obs.]
Chaucer.
(b)
To ride in the open air.
[Colloq.]
–
To ride to hounds
,
to ride behind, and near to, the hounds in hunting.
Syn. – Drive.
–
Ride
,
Drive
. Ride originally meant (and is so used throughout the English Bible) to be carried on horseback or in a vehicle of any kind. At present in England, drive is the word applied in most cases to progress in a carriage; as, a drive around the park, etc.; while ride is appropriated to progress on a horse. Johnson seems to sanction this distinction by giving “to travel on horseback” as the leading sense of ride; though he adds “to travel in a vehicle” as a secondary sense. This latter use of the word still occurs to some extent; as, the queen rides to Parliament in her coach of state; to ride in an omnibus.
“Will you
ride
over or
drive
?” said Lord Willowby to his quest, after breakfast that morning.
W. Black.

Ride

,
Verb.
T.
1.
To sit on, so as to be carried;
as, to
ride
a horse; to
ride
a bicycle.
[They] rend up both rocks and hills, and
ride
the air
In whirlwind.
Milton.
2.
To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.
The nobility could no longer endure to be
ridden
by bakers, cobblers, and brewers.
Swift.
3.
To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.
Tue only men that safe can
ride

Mine errands on the Scottish side.
Sir W. Scott.
4.
(Surg.)
To overlap (each other); – said of bones or fractured fragments.
To ride a hobby
,
to have some favorite occupation or subject of talk.
–
To ride and tie
,
to take turn with another in labor and rest; – from the expedient adopted by two persons with one horse, one of whom rides the animal a certain distance, and then ties him for the use of the other, who is coming up on foot.
Fielding.
–
To ride down
.
(a)
To ride over; to trample down in riding; to overthrow by riding against;
as,
to ride down
an enemy
.
(b)
(Naut.)
To bear down, as on a halyard when hoisting a sail.
–
To ride out
(Naut.)
,
to keep safe afloat during (a storm) while riding at anchor or when hove to on the open sea;
as,
to ride out
the gale
.

Ride

,
Noun.
1.
The act of riding; an excursion on horseback or in a vehicle.
2.
A saddle horse.
[Prov. Eng.]
Wright.
3.
A road or avenue cut in a wood, or through grounds, to be used as a place for riding; a riding.

Webster 1828 Edition

Ride

RIDE

,
Verb.
I.
pret. rode or rid; pp. rid, ridden. [L rheda, a chariot or vehicle.]
1.
To be carried on horseback, or on any beast, or in any vehicle. We ride on a horse, on a camel, in a coach, chariot, wagon, &c.
2.
To be borne on or in a fluid. A ship rides at anchor; the ark rode on the flood; a balloon rides in the air.
He rode on a cherub and did fly; yea, he did fly on the wings of the wind. Ps. 18.
3.
To be supported in motion.
Strong as the axle-tree on which heaven rides.
4.
To practice riding. He rides often for his health.
5.
To manage a horse well.
He rode, he fenc'd, he mov'd with graceful ease.
6.
To be supported by something subservient; to sit.
On whose foolish honesty my practices rid easy.
To ride easy, in seaman's language, is when a ship does not labor or feel a great strain on her cables.
To ride hard, is when a ship pitches violently, so as to strain her cables, masts and hull.
To ride out, as a gale, signifies that a ship does not drive during a storm.

RIDE

, v.t.
1.
To sit on, so as to be carried; as, to ride a horse.
They ride the air in whirlwind.
2.
To manage insolently at will; as in priestridden.
The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers and brewers.
3.
To carry. [Local.]

RIDE

, n.
1.
An excursion on horseback or in a vehicle.
2.
A saddle horse. [Local.]
3.
A road cut in a wood or through a ground for the amusement of riding; a riding.

Definition 2024

ride

ride

See also: ridé

English

Verb

ride ‎(third-person singular simple present rides, present participle riding, simple past rode, past participle ridden)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To transport oneself by sitting on and directing a horse, later also a bicycle etc. [from 8th c., transitive usage from 9th c.]
    • 1597, William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, part 1:
      Go Peto, to horse: for thou, and I, / Haue thirtie miles to ride yet ere dinner time.
    • 1814, Jane Austen, Mansfield Park:
      I will take my horse early tomorrow morning and ride over to Stoke, and settle with one of them.
    • 1923, "Mrs. Rinehart", Time, 28 Apr 1923:
      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.
    • 2010, The Guardian, 6 Oct 2010:
      The original winner Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia was relegated after riding too aggressively to storm from fourth to first on the final bend.
  2. (intransitive, transitive) To be transported in a vehicle; to travel as a passenger. [from 9th c., transitive usage from 19th c.]
    • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick:
      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.
    • 1960, "Biznelcmd", Time, 20 Jun 1960:
      In an elaborately built, indoor San Francisco, passengers ride cable cars through quiet, hilly streets.
  3. (transitive, chiefly US and South Africa) To transport (someone) in a vehicle. [from 17th c.]
    The cab rode him downtown.
  4. (intransitive) Of a ship: to sail, to float on the water. [from 10th c.]
    • Dryden
      Men once walked where ships at anchor ride.
    • 1719, Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe:
      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 […]
  5. (transitive, intransitive) To be carried or supported by something lightly and quickly; to travel in such a way, as though on horseback. [from 10th c.]
    The witch cackled and rode away on her broomstick.
  6. (intransitive) To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle.
    A horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.
  7. (intransitive, transitive) To mount (someone) to have sex with them; to have sexual intercourse with. [from 15th c.]
    • c. 1390, Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Nun's Priest's Tale", Canterbury Tales:
      Womman is mannes Ioye and al his blis / ffor whan I feele a nyght your softe syde / Al be it that I may nat on yow ryde / ffor þat oure perche is maad so narwe allas [...].
    • 1997, Linda Howard, Son of the Morning, page 345:
      She rode him hard, and he squeezed her breasts, and she came again.
  8. (transitive, colloquial) To nag or criticize; to annoy (someone). [from 19th c.]
    • 2002, Myra MacPherson, Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the haunted generation, page 375:
      “One old boy started riding me about not having gone to Vietnam; I just spit my coffee at him, and he backed off.
  9. (intransitive) Of clothing: to gradually move (up) and crease; to ruckle. [from 19th c.]
    • 2008, Ann Kessel, The Guardian, 27 Jul 2008:
      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.
  10. (intransitive) To rely, depend (on). [from 20th c.]
    • 2006, "Grappling with deficits", The Economist, 9 Mar 2006:
      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.
  11. (intransitive) Of clothing: to rest (in a given way on a part of the body). [from 20th c.]
    • 2001, Jenny Eliscu, "Oops...she's doing it again", The Observer, 16 Sep 2001:
      She's wearing inky-blue jeans that ride low enough on her hips that her aquamarine thong peeks out teasingly at the back.
  12. (lacrosse) To play defense on the defensemen or midfielders, as an attackman.
  13. To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.
    • Jonathan Swift
      The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers, and brewers.
  14. To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.
    • Sir Walter Scott
      The only men that safe can ride / Mine errands on the Scottish side.
  15. (surgery) To overlap (each other); said of bones or fractured fragments.

Derived terms

Translations

of clothing: to rest on a part of the body

Noun

ride ‎(plural rides)

  1. An instance of riding.
    Can I have a ride on your bike?
  2. (informal) A vehicle.
    That is a nice ride you are driving.
  3. An amusement ridden at a fair or amusement park.
  4. A lift given to someone in another person's vehicle.
    Can you give me a ride?
  5. (Britain) A road or avenue cut in a wood, for riding; a bridleway or other wide country path.
  6. (Britain, dialect, archaic) A saddle horse.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wright to this entry?)
  7. (Ireland) A person (or sometimes a thing or a place) that is visually attractive.
    • 2007 July 14, Michael O'Neill, Re: More mouthy ineffectual poseurs...[was Re: Live Earth - One Of The Most Important Events On This Particular Planet - don't let SCI distract you, in soc.culture.irish, Usenet:
      Absolutely, and I agree about Madonna. An absolute ride *still*. :-) M.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Danish

Etymology 1

From Faroese ryta, rita and Icelandic rita.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /riːdə/, [ʁiːðə]

Noun

ride c (singular definite riden, plural indefinite rider)

  1. black-legged kittiwake (Rissa tridactyla)
Inflection

Etymology 2

From Old Norse ríða, from Proto-Germanic *rīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ-.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /riːdə/, [ʁiːðə]

Verb

ride ‎(imperative rid, present rider, past red, past participle redet, reden or redne, present participle ridende)

  1. ride

French

Etymology

From rider.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ʁid/

Noun

ride f ‎(plural rides)

  1. wrinkle, line (on face etc.)
  2. ripple
  3. ridge

Related terms

Verb

ride

  1. first-person singular present indicative of rider
  2. third-person singular present indicative of rider
  3. first-person singular present subjunctive of rider
  4. third-person singular present subjunctive of rider
  5. second-person singular imperative of rider

Anagrams

Italian

Verb

ride

  1. third-person singular indicative present of ridere

Anagrams

Latin

Verb

rīdē

  1. second-person singular present active imperative of rīdeō

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From Old Norse ríða

Alternative forms

Verb

ride ‎(imperative rid, present tense rider, passive rides, simple past red or rei, past participle ridd, present participle ridende)

  1. to ride (e.g. a horse)

References

Etymology

From Middle English riden, from Old English rīdan, from Proto-Germanic *rīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ-. Cognate with North Frisian ride ‎(“to ride”), Saterland Frisian riede ‎(“to ride”), West Frisian ride ‎(“to ride”), Low German rieden ‎(“to ride”), Dutch rijden ‎(“to ride”), German reiten ‎(“to ride”), Danish ride ‎(“to ride”), Swedish rida ‎(“to ride”); and (from Indo-European) with Welsh rhwyddhau ‎(“to hurry”).

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ɹaɪd/
  • Rhymes: -aɪd

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