Ride (?), v. i. [imp. Rode (rōd) (Rid [r&ibreve_;d], archaic); p. p. Ridden (&unr_;) (Rid, archaic); p. pr. & vb. n. Riding (&unr_;).] [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.
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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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2. 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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3. 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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4. 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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5. 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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6. 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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Ride, n. 1. The act of riding; an excursion on horseback or in a vehicle.
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2. A saddle horse. [Prov. Eng.] Wright.
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3. 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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