English
ride
Etymology

From Middle English riden, from Old English rīdan, from Proto-West Germanic *rīdan, from Proto-Germanic *rīdaną, from Proto-Indo-European *Hreydʰ-, from Proto-Indo-European *h₃reyH-.

From Proto-Germanic: Northern Frisian ride, Saterland Frisian riede, Western Frisian ride, Low German rieden, Dutch rijden, German reiten, Danish ride, Swedish rida.

From : Welsh rhwyddhau.

Pronunciation
  • (RP, America) IPA: /ɹaɪd/
Verb

ride (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.]
    I ride to work every day and park the bike outside the office.
    • 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):
      Go Peto, to horse: for thou, and I, / Haue thirtie miles to ride yet ere dinner time.
    • 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter XV, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC ↗, page 310 ↗:
      […] I will take my horse early to-morrow morning and ride over to Stoke, and settle with one of them.
    • 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 ↗:
      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.
  2. (intransitive, transitive) To be transported in a vehicle; to travel as a passenger. [from 9th c., transitive usage from 19th c.]
    • 1851 November 13, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC ↗:
      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.
  3. (transitive, informal, 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.]
    • a. 1701, [John] Dryden, “Book I”, in Ovid, Ovid's Art of Love. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, →OCLC ↗, pages 19–20 ↗:
      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: […]
    • 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC ↗:
      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. (transitive) To traverse by riding.
    • 1999, David Levinson, Karen Christensen, Encyclopedia of World Sport: From Ancient Times to the Present:
      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.
  7. (transitive) To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.
    How many races have you ridden this year?
    • 1808 February 21, 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 ↗:
      The only men that safe can ride / Mine errands on the Scottish side.
  8. (transitive, figuratively) To exploit or take advantage of (a situation).
  9. (intransitive) To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle.
    A horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.
  10. (intransitive, transitive, slang, vulgar) To mount (someone) to have sex with them; to have sexual intercourse with. [from 13th c.]
    • 1997, Linda Howard, Son of the Morning, page 345:
      She rode him hard, and he squeezed her breasts, and she came again.
    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 152 ↗:
      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.
  11. (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.
  12. (intransitive) Of clothing: to gradually move (up) and crease; to ruckle. [from 19th c.]
  13. (intransitive) To rely, depend (on). [from 20th c.]
  14. (intransitive) Of clothing: to rest (in a given way on a part of the body). [from 20th c.]
  15. (lacrosse) To play defense on the defensemen or midfielders, as an attackman.
  16. To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.
    • 1731, Jonathan Swift, The Presbyterians Plea of Merit:
      The nobility […] could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, coblers[sic], brewers, and the like.
  17. (surgery) To overlap (each other); said of bones or fractured fragments.
  18. (radio, television, transitive) To monitor (some component of an audiovisual signal) in order to keep it within acceptable bounds.
    vocal riding
    • 2006, Simran Kohli, Radio Jockey Handbook:
      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.
    • 2017, Michael O'Connell, Turn Up the Volume: A Down and Dirty Guide to Podcasting, page 22:
      “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. […]
  19. (music) In jazz, to play in a steady rhythmical style.
    • 2000, Max Harrison, Charles Fox, Eric Thacker, The Essential Jazz Records: Modernism to postmodernism, page 238:
      The quintet in Propheticape muses out-of-measured-time until Holland leads it into swift, riding jazz.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Translations Noun

ride (plural rides)

  1. An instance of riding.
    Can I have a ride on your bike?
    We took the horses for an early-morning ride in the woods.
    go for a quick ride
  2. (informal) A vehicle.
    That's a nice ride; what did it cost?
    pimp my ride
  3. An amusement ridden at a fair or amusement park.
    the kids went on all the rides
  4. A lift given to someone in another person's vehicle.
    Can you give me a ride home?
  5. (UK) A road or avenue cut in a wood, for riding; a bridleway or other wide country path.
  6. (UK, dialect, archaic) A saddle horse.
  7. (Ireland) A person (or sometimes a thing or a place) that is visually attractive.
  8. (jazz) A steady rhythmical style.
    She's playing cheerful music on the ride cymbal!
  9. (figurative) A wild, bewildering experience of some duration.
    That story was a ride from start to finish.
  10. (slang, vulgar) An act of sexual intercourse.
    Synonyms: shag, fuck, cop, bang
    I gave my boyfriend a ride before breakfast.
  11. A district inspected by an excise officer.
  12. (printing, historical) A fault caused by the overlapping of leads, etc.
Translations Translations Translations Translations

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