Crossword Dictionary

What's The Definition Of Ride?

\Ride\, v. i. [imp. {Rode} (r[=o]d) ({Rid} [r[i^]d], archaic); p. p. {Ridden}({Rid}, archaic); p. pr. & vb. n. {Riding}.] [AS. r[=i]dan; akin to LG. riden, D. rijden, G. reiten, OHG. r[=i]tan, Icel. r[=i][eth]a, 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. --Shak. On whose foolish honesty My practices ride easy! --Shak. 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. Usage: {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\, v. 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\, n. 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.