v. i. [ imp. Rode Rid [ r&ibreve_;d ], 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. [ 1913 Webster ]

To-morrow, when ye riden by the way. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

Let your master ride on before, and do you gallop after him. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To be borne in a carriage; as, to ride in a coach, in a car, and the like. See Synonym, below. [ 1913 Webster ]

The richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not by riding in gilden carriages, but by walking the streets with trains of servants. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To be borne or in a fluid; to float; to lie. [ 1913 Webster ]

Men once walked where ships at anchor ride. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To be supported in motion; to rest. [ 1913 Webster ]

Strong as the exletree
On which heaven rides. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

On whose foolish honesty
My practices ride easy! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To manage a horse, as an equestrian. [ 1913 Webster ]

He rode, he fenced, he moved with graceful ease. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle; as, a horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

“Will you ride over or drive?” said Lord Willowby to his quest, after breakfast that morning. W. Black. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To sit on, so as to be carried; as, to ride a horse; to ride a bicycle. [ 1913 Webster ]

[ They ] rend up both rocks and hills, and ride the air
In whirlwind. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To manage insolently at will; to domineer over. [ 1913 Webster ]

The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers, and brewers. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding. [ 1913 Webster ]

Tue only men that safe can ride
Mine errands on the Scottish side. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Surg.) To overlap (each other); -- said of bones or fractured fragments. [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. The act of riding; an excursion on horseback or in a vehicle. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A saddle horse. [ Prov. Eng. ] Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A road or avenue cut in a wood, or through grounds, to be used as a place for riding; a riding. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. ] A small mound of earth; ground slightly elevated; a small ridge. [ 1913 Webster ]

obs. imp. pl. & p. p. of Ride. Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. ridens, p. pr. of ridere to laugh. ] Laughing. [ R. ] Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, rides. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Formerly, an agent who went out with samples of goods to obtain orders; a commercial traveler. [ Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

3. One who breaks or manages a horse. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. An addition or amendment to a manuscript or other document, which is attached on a separate piece of paper; in legislative practice, an additional clause annexed to a bill while in course of passage; something extra or burdensome that is imposed. [ 1913 Webster ]

After the third reading, a foolish man stood up to propose a rider. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

This [ question ] was a rider which Mab found difficult to answer. A. S. Hardy. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Math.) A problem of more than usual difficulty added to another on an examination paper. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. [ D. rijder. ] A Dutch gold coin having the figure of a man on horseback stamped upon it. [ 1913 Webster ]

His moldy money ! half a dozen riders. J. Fletcher. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. (Mining) Rock material in a vein of ore, dividing it. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. (Shipbuilding) An interior rib occasionally fixed in a ship's hold, reaching from the keelson to the beams of the lower deck, to strengthen her frame. Totten. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. (Naut.) The second tier of casks in a vessel's hold. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. A small forked weight which straddles the beam of a balance, along which it can be moved in the manner of the weight on a steelyard. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. A robber. [ Obs. or Prov. Eng. ] Drummond. [ 1913 Webster ]

Rider's bone (Med.), a bony deposit in the muscles of the upper and inner part of the thigh, due to the pressure and irritation caused by the saddle in riding. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having no rider; as, a riderless horse. H. Kingsley. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. to be executed by electrocution in the electric chair. [ jocose slang ] [ PJC ]