GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 3 definitions

1.       
   Ride , v. i. [imp. Rode  (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.]
   To be carried on the back of an animal, as a horse.
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   To-morrow, when ye riden by the way.
   Chaucer.
   
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   Let your master ride on before, and do you gallop after him.
   Swift.
   
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   To be borne in a carriage; as, to ride in a coach, in a car, and the like. See Synonym, below.
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   The richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not by riding in gilden carriages, but by walking the streets with trains of servants.
   Macaulay.
   
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   To be borne or in a fluid; to float; to lie.
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   Men once walked where ships at anchor ride.
   Dryden.
   
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   To be supported in motion; to rest.
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   Strong as the exletree
   On which heaven rides.
   Shak.
   
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   On whose foolish honesty
   My practices ride easy!
   Shak.
   
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   To manage a horse, as an equestrian.
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   He rode, he fenced, he moved with graceful ease.
   Dryden.
   
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   To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle; as, a horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.
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   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.
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   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.
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   “Will you ride over or drive?” said Lord Willowby to his quest, after breakfast that morning.
   W. Black.
   
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2.       
   Ride, v. t.
   To sit on, so as to be carried; as, to ride a horse; to ride a bicycle.
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   [They] rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
   In whirlwind.
   Milton.
   
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   To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.
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   The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers, and brewers.
   Swift.
   
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   To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.
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   Tue only men that safe can ride
   Mine errands on the Scottish side.
   Sir W. Scott.
   
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   (Surg.) To overlap (each other); -- said of bones or fractured fragments.
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   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.
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3.       
   Ride, n.
   The act of riding; an excursion on horseback or in a vehicle.
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   A saddle horse. [Prov. Eng.]
   Wright.
   
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   A road or avenue cut in a wood, or through grounds, to be used as a place for riding; a riding.
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