use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

ride (rīd)
Share:
v. rode (rōd), rid·den (rĭdn), rid·ing, rides
v.intr.
1.
a. To be carried or conveyed, as in a vehicle or on horseback.
b. Sports To participate in a board sport such as snowboarding.
2. To travel over a surface: This car rides well.
3. To move by way of an intangible force or impetus; move as if on water: The President rode into office on a tide of discontent.
4. Nautical To lie at anchor: battleships riding at the mouth of the estuary.
5. To seem to float: The moon was riding among the clouds.
6. To be sustained or supported on a pivot, axle, or other point.
7. To be contingent; depend: The final outcome rides on the results of the election.
8. To continue without interference: Let the matter ride.
9. To work or move from the proper place, especially on the body: pants that ride up.
v.tr.
1.
a. To sit on and control the movement of: rode a motorcycle to town; ride a horse to the village.
b. Sports To glide or move while standing on or having one's feet attached to (a board, such as a snowboard).
2. To travel over, along, or through: ride the highways.
3. To be supported or carried on: a swimmer riding the waves.
4. To take part in or do by riding: He rode his last race.
5. To cause to ride, especially to cause to be carried: The police rode him down to the station.
6. Sports To control (an opponent) in wrestling, usually by holding the opponent down.
7. Nautical To keep (a vessel) at anchor.
8. Informal
a. To tease or ridicule.
b. To harass with persistent carping and criticism.
9. To keep partially engaged by slightly depressing a pedal with the foot: Don't ride the clutch or the brakes.
n.
1. The act or an instance of riding, as in a vehicle or on an animal.
2. A path made for riding on horseback, especially through woodlands.
3. A device, such as one at an amusement park, that one rides for pleasure or excitement.
4. A means of transportation: waiting for her ride to come.
Phrasal Verb:
ride out
To survive or outlast: rode out the storm.
Idioms:
ride for a fall
To court danger or disaster.
ride herd on
To keep watch or control over.
ride high
To experience success.
ride shotgun
1. To guard a person or thing while in transit.
2. Slang To ride in the front passenger seat of a car or truck.
take for a ride Slang
1. To deceive or swindle: an author who tried to take his publisher for a ride.
2. To transport to a place and kill.

[Middle English riden, from Old English rīdan; see reidh- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

rida·ble, ridea·ble adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.