[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.
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.
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.
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.
When he himself might his quietus make With a bare
bodkin. --Shak.
2. (Needlework) An implement of steel, bone, ivory, etc.,
with a sharp point, for making holes by piercing; a
?tiletto; an eyeleteer.
3. (Print.) A sharp tool, like an awl, used for picking ?ut
letters from a column or page in making corrections.
4. A kind of needle with a large eye and a blunt point, for
drawing tape, ribbon, etc., through a loop or a hem; a
tape needle.
Wedged whole ages in a bodkin's eye. --Pope.
5. A kind of pin used by women to fasten the hair.
{To sit}, {ride}, or {travel bodkin}, to sit closely wedged
between two persons. [Colloq.] --Thackeray.