ride Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a journey in a vehicle (usually an automobile)
    drive.
    • he took the family for a drive in his new car
  2. noun a mechanical device that you ride for amusement or excitement
  3. verb sit and travel on the back of animal, usually while controlling its motions
    sit.
    • She never sat a horse!
    • Did you ever ride a camel?
    • The girl liked to drive the young mare
  4. verb be carried or travel on or in a vehicle
    • I ride to work in a bus
    • He rides the subway downtown every day
  5. verb continue undisturbed and without interference
    • Let it ride
  6. verb move like a floating object
    • The moon rode high in the night sky
  7. verb harass with persistent criticism or carping
    rag; razz; bait; tantalize; twit; taunt; tease; cod; rally; tantalise.
    • The children teased the new teacher
    • Don't ride me so hard over my failure
    • His fellow workers razzed him when he wore a jacket and tie
  8. verb be sustained or supported or borne
    • His glasses rode high on his nose
    • The child rode on his mother's hips
    • She rode a wave of popularity
    • The brothers rode to an easy victory on their father's political name
  9. verb have certain properties when driven
    drive.
    • This car rides smoothly
    • My new truck drives well
  10. verb be contingent on
    hinge upon; depend on; turn on; devolve on; hinge on; depend upon.
    • The outcomes rides on the results of the election
    • Your grade will depends on your homework
  11. verb lie moored or anchored
    • Ship rides at anchor
  12. verb sit on and control a vehicle
    • He rides his bicycle to work every day
    • She loves to ride her new motorcycle through town
  13. verb climb up on the body
    • Shorts that ride up
    • This skirt keeps riding up my legs
  14. verb ride over, along, or through
    • Ride the freeways of California
  15. verb keep partially engaged by slightly depressing a pedal with the foot
    • Don't ride the clutch!
  16. verb copulate with
    mount.
    • The bull was riding the cow

WordNet

Ride intransitive verb
Etymology
AS. ridan; akin to LG. riden, D. rijden, G. reiten, OHG. ritan, Icel. ri&edh;a, Sw. rida, Dan. ride; cf. L. raeda a carriage, which is from a Celtic word. Cf. Road.
Wordforms
imperfect Rode (Rid [r&icr;d], archaic); past participle Ridden (Rid, archaic); present participle & verbal noun Riding
Definitions
  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. 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 transitive verb
Definitions
  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.
Ride noun
Definitions
  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 1913