He rid to the end of the village, where he alighted.
--Thackeray.
Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand
of the wicked. --Ps. lxxxii.
4.
2. To free; to clear; to disencumber; -- followed by of.
``Rid all the sea of pirates.'' --Shak.
In never ridded myself of an overmastering and
brooding sense of some great calamity traveling
toward me. --De Quincey.
3. To drive away; to remove by effort or violence; to make
away with; to destroy. [Obs.]
I will red evil beasts out of the land. --Lev. xxvi.
6.
Death's men, you have rid this sweet young prince!
--Shak.
4. To get over; to dispose of; to dispatch; to finish. [R.]
``Willingness rids way.'' --Shak.
Mirth will make us rid ground faster than if thieves
were at our tails. --J. Webster.
{To be rid of}, to be free or delivered from.
{To get rid of}, to get deliverance from; to free one's self
from.
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.