ride n.
1. in sexual contexts [ride v. (1a)].
(a) sexual intercourse.
![[UK]](/static/img/flags/uk.png "United Kingdom") | Mannerly Margery Mylk and Ale line 11: I am no hackney for your rode. | |
| Satirist (London) 4 Dec. 280/1: ‘Psha! don't give way to such desponding thoughts, my sweet Little Jockey [i.e. the speaker’s wife]; we’ll have many a ride yet’. | |
| ‘Slashing Costermonger’ in Cuckold’s Nest 12: When my son Bill selected forth / Himself a virtuous bride, sirs, / The morn on vhich they vent to church, / Of course she liked a ride, sirs. / I soon accomodated her, / Nor left her in the lurch, sirs. | |
| Sam Sly 26 May 2/2: We would advise Mr. Thomas C——g [...] not to be seen running about with his horse and cart so often after the fishermen’s wives, and asking them to have a ride for a ride. | |
![[US]](/static/img/flags/us.png "United States") | Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 11 Oct. n.p.: You [...] would like to have had a ride in the chaise [...] wouldn’t you? | |
| ‘Wait Till We’re Married’ in Rakish Rhymer (1917) 157: So come, be quick about it, / Both. And we’ll both take a ride. | |
![[Aus]](/static/img/flags/aus.png "Australia") | Dead Bird (Sydney) 4 Jan. 1/2: She: Are you going to take me for a row? He: No, I would rather take you for a ride. Then they had a row. | |
| ‘The Bicycle’ in Bawdy N.Y. State MS. n.p.: And when the ride comes to an end, / They both get off together. | |
| Negro and His Songs (1964) 155: ‘Say, look here, Jane! / Don’t you want to take a ride?’ / ‘Well, I doan care if I do.’ / So he hitch up his mule an’ started out. / [...] An’ it’s whoa-er mule, git up and down, / Till I say whoa-er, mule. / ‘Ain’t he a mule, Miss Jane?’ – ‘Um – huh.’. | |
 | ‘Mae West in “The Hip Flipper”’ [comic strip] Lotta can be depended on to give her new big moment a ride he’ll never forget. | |
| End as a Man (1952) 198: I’m going to call her in one night and give her a ride. | |
| Fowlers End (2001) 186: As for the girls, remember there’s a depression on. In the old days many a good ride I had for a sandwich. | |
| Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 95: With Mrs. Kearney I wanted a good ride and so did she. | |
| Caldo Largo (1980) 82: Her cunt was smooth and grippy, and she worked it every minute of the ride like a well-oiled fuck machine. | |
![[Ire]](/static/img/flags/ire.png "Ireland") | Is That It? 37: You could get a ‘wear’, a kiss with open mouth; a ‘feel’; a ‘dry ride’, a crunching of pubic bones, or a ‘ride’. | |
| Snapper 73: I suppose a ride’s ou’ of the question. | |
| Happy Like Murderers 316: I had a good ride last night off your mother. | |
| Port Authority 1: They went up to the boxroom and had a spliff and all of a sudden they got stuck into each other, having a sneaky ride. | |
| Ten Storey Love Song 253: Johnnie’s too busy giving Ellen the ride of her life to notice. | |
| Locked Ward (2013) 309: ‘He said he needed a ride,’ said a girl. | |
| ‘Six Feet Under God’ in Life During Wartime (2018) 190: ‘Wanna take a ride?’ ‘I thought we just did.’ She put her clothes back on. | |
| Blood Miracles 48: ‘Go to Karine. Give her her last ever ride with a man of middling prospects’. |
(b) (orig. Irish) a woman when regarded as a (potential) partner in intercourse.
| (con. 1880–90s) I Knock at the Door 55: We met two lovely big-diddied rides, and they were all for us going home with them. | |
| Kept 21: By this time I wasn't thinking of her as a quick ride to New York any more. I was thinking of her as a ride, but one without the Caddy. | |
| Snapper 64: Isn’t she lovely? – Oh si. Si. A little ride. | |
![[Scot]](/static/img/flags/sco.png "Scotland") | Glue 33: She’s wi ehr mate, another ride whae ah’ve seen aboot. | |
| Mad mag. Jan. 18: Look at the headlights on that ride. What is that? A Pontiac? I was talking about your mother. | |
| ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] ‘How was that brunette?’ ‘Must have been a decent ride, ’cos he never went home’. | |
| (con. 1980s) Skagboys 24: Heh-low . . . ride alert, ride alert . . . the daughter has turned oot a right wee fuckin belter! | |
| ‘Laughin’ to the Bank’ 🎵 I laugh like haw haw haw, his bitch like my ride, ride, ride. | |
| Twitter 13 May 🌐 We didn’t win a @BAFTA but we did look like a pack of rides. | |
| Braywatch 334: A few minutes later, a woman in a black suit arrives out – a total focking ride. |
(c) an act of sodomy.
| Journal of Murder in Gaddis & Long (2002) 45: I figured [...] I would commit a little sodomy on him [...] Then I invited the Indian to take a ride. |
(d) (Scot.) a term of abuse, syn. with fucker n.
| (con. mid-1960s) Glasgow Gang Observed 106: Ah’ll wrap a blade roun’ yir fuckin’ throats, ya rides ye. |
(e) (US prison) the warden.
| Southern Illinoisan (Carbondale, IL) 7 Apr. 4/1: Prison Slang [...] The Ride: The warden. |
(f) (Irish) an attractive man, thus a general term of approval/admiration.
| Snapper 41: He’s a ride, isn’t he? | |
| ‘Where the Debris Meets the Sea’ in Acid House 88: Total fuckin ride. Ah bet eh’s hung like a hoarse. | |
| Woman Who Walked Into Doors 20: We called every fella that wasn’t ugly a ride. | |
| Twitter 25 May 🌐 Stena-Line: you’re a massive ride for holding that boat for the vote. Boaty McVoteface. |
2. anything that one rides.
(a) (US) an automobile.
| ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr. list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 134: ride, n. Automobile. | |
| ‘Sl. of Watts’ in Current Sl. III:2. | |
| Street Players 20: Them bitches was lookin’ at the ride. | |
| ‘Drama’ 🎵 Had the ride packed up till we heard ‘Freeze!’. | |
| (con. 1946) Big Blowdown (1999) 54: A horn sounded outside the plate-glass window [...] ‘That’s my ride, Nick.’. | |
| (con. 1990s) in One of the Guys 61: ‘They got cars, rides, you don’t have no car’. | |
| I, Fatty 140: The Renault (a Frog ride I got as a gift). | |
| Killer Tune (2008) 33: I’ll run you home in your ride. | |
| All the Colours 83: ‘Scooby [...] Nice ride. Is it turbo, mister?’. | |
| (con. 1972) What It Was 203: Jones and Watkins had to have left their ride deeper south into Crestwood. | |
| Zero at the Bone [ebook] The Statesman wasn’t Hogan’s regular ride. | |
| ‘Hashtag’ 🎵 Come in tryna take that whole road / And tryna jump out the ride with weapons. | |
| Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘Ride’s waiting for you at the curb’. | |
| Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 155: The tan leather interior seemed both luxurious and wasteful to Carlotta. Though she thrilled to the glamour of the ride. |
(b) (US campus) a bicycle or motorcycle.
| Campus Sl. Spring 7: ride – a car, bike, motorcycle. | |
| Razorblade Tears 247: A few were leaning against their rides. |
(c) (US black) a skateboard.
| Six Out Seven (1994) 149: Yeah, man. He gonna fuckin beat your ass to death with your own ride. |
(d) (teen) in pl. shoes, trainers.
| www.verywellfamily.com/a-teen-slang-dictionary 10 Mar. 🌐 Rides - Sneakers or shoes. |
3. (US) a fellow swing enthusiast.
| Detroit Free Press (MI) 17 Sept. 8/1: ‘Dear Gate’(That’s swing slang for a real hot ride, man). |
4. (US prison) a jail sentence.
| et al. DAUL 177/1: Ride, n. [...] 2. Conviction and imprisonment on trumped-up charges, or without regard to due process of law, of anyone guilty or innocent. | |
| letter 2 March in Joint (1972) 223: Kaplan departed up the river to Ossining February 10 on a 2 ½ to five ride. |
5. (US prison) a companion, esp. a fellow gang-member [a member of the same group or car n. (2)].
| Maledicta V:1+2 (Summer + Winter) 265: His ride is a companion, especially a fellow gang member. |
6. (US drugs) a state of intoxication; thus as v., to become intoxicated by a drug [play on trip n.4 (1a)].
| Vulture (1996) 52: I never touched the skag that the junkies were ridin’ on. [Ibid.] 76: We had put glue down as a bad ride. | |
| (con. WWII) Hollywoodland (1981) 107: ‘Thirty bucks for the Horse, then?’ ‘Thirty bucks for the ride.’. |
7. see take for a ride
In compounds
(US campus) a full scholarship to college, thus adj. all expenses paid.
| Akron Beacon-Jrnl (OH) 22 Nov. 68/2: [The] administration has already pledged to athletes receiving scholarships that the ‘full ride’ [...] will be provided. | |
| Great Falls Trib. (MT) 8 Jan. 17/3: A ‘full ride’ is a scholarship which pays all fees, plus room and board and other incidentals. | |
| Dly Times-News (Burlington, NC) 1 Jan. 2-B/1: ‘Here at Harvard he’s not getting a full ride’. | |
| Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 2 Jan. Sports 7/1: She is currently considering a two-year full-ride athletic scholarship. | |
| White Boy Shuffle 162: With grades and test scores like these [...] you’re a shoo-in, full ride and all. | |
| The Force [ebook] She was [...] begging for her life, pleading for the chance to go to that college where she had a full ride. |
In phrases
to have sexual intercourse.
| DSUE (1984) 317/1: from ca. 1860. |
see under dry adj.1
to be taken by car to one’s execution.
| Long Wait (1954) 81: You pile us up and you’ll be the one getting a ride, not him. |
(US black) to lynch.
| ‘Dan Burley’s Clothesline’ 22 Oct. [synd. col.] They broke up all that ‘unity’ jive when they gave Ben that ‘ride’ the other day. |
to indulge (an idea, an action).
| Show Business Laid Bare 95: [of a news story] ‘Jesus Christ, Paul!’ [...] You’re asking me to hold this story [...] for three or four days! [...] ‘I’m just hoping you could hold it till a day when we can give it a ride,’he said. |
(UK und.) to work as a cardsharp during a train journey.
| Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 5: Having a ride: Card sharpers using the train. |
(US) to suffer vilification.
| 10 July [synd. col.] Once a ball player gets into the big sugar he gets unpopular in the popular press. Ruth used to take rides when he bickered for a heavier wage. |
1. (US Und., also take for an airing, take for a trip) to assassinate, usu. by taking the victim out in a car and killing them at some stage, then dumping the body far from one’s base; thus go for a ride, to suffer this form of death.
| Phila. Eve. Bulletin 5 Oct. 40/1: ‘We shoot tonight – or somebody gets taken for a ride!’ [Ibid.] 40/4: Here are a few more terms and definitions from the ‘Racket’ vocabulary: [...] ‘ride,’ to punish [...] a death trip by motor car. | |
| Third Degree (1931) 31: Often, too, his reward for his achievement is to be taken for a ride. | |
| ‘Romance in the Roaring Forties’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 35: When Dave the Dude takes a guy out for an airing the guy very often does not come back. | |
| Strip Tease 33: Another stripper’s boy friend was taken for a ride and dumped into Long Island Sound. | |
| Amboy Dukes 45: You’ll take me for a ride? | |
| Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 101: go for a ride To be taken for a death ride. | |
| in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/4: Other American expressions [...] recorded among our criminals include: [...] ‘stool pigeon,’ ‘scram,’ and ‘take for a ride’. | |
| (con. 1920s) Hoods (1953) 85: We [...] permanently ‘ostracized’ him from society [...] we took him for a trip into the wilds of the ‘Borscht Country.’. | |
| Young Wolves 151: I’m taking you for a ride. All the way! | |
| Mad mag. Sept. 29: Some day I’m sure that he / Will take me for a ride. | |
| World’s Toughest Prison 821: take for a ride – To take an unwanted or untrustworthy gang member or an enemy for an automobile ride, the purpose being to kill the victim away from the city or in an infrequented street, and left there. | |
| Q&A 113: He didn’t plan to kill Tony there. He was going to take him for a ride and bury you with him. | |
| Cops are Robbers 75: ‘Three guys came up to my club—from a big South Boston gang, I believe—and took me for a ride [...] I thought I was finished, gonzo’. |
2. (orig. US, also give a ride, take for a trot) to deceive, to fool, to trick, usu. for financial gain.
| in Bogard & Bryer Sel. Letters (1988) 317: Nobody ever ‘took me for a ride’ before in anything but trifling matters. | |
| Gangster Girl 9: [They] had taken her for a ride—but she had made a miraculous getaway. | |
| Never Come Morning (1988) 141: He’ll [...] sell you an oil well ’r take a merry widow for a ride on her insurance money. | |
| From Here to Eternity (1998) 267: If he could ever prove to himself I’m tryin to take him for a ride I’d never get another dime out of him. | |
| Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 14: Has Barry been taken for a ride? See next issue. | |
| S.R.O. (1998) 293: ‘So I’m not the only one who’s taking Welfare for a ride’. | |
| Queens’ Vernacular 96: give somebody a ride (dated) to lie; stretch the truth. Syn: take somebody on a ride. | |
| Inside the Und. 45: He had been taken for a ride in his youth by the ‘acky’ trick. | |
| Smiley’s People 175: Otto Leipzig’s taking us for a ride [...] Kirov’s a plant. | |
| Union Street 205: You took him for a trot, didn’t you? | |
| Pugilist at Rest 147: That bitch is insane, Window, and she’s taking you for a ride. She’s hustling you, man! | |
| Tattoo of a Naked Lady 6: Cuz once I’ve hooked a live one into thinking he can take me for a ride, that’s when I nail him with the ‘build-up.’. | |
| Intractable [ebook] [Prison governor] Duff deduced he’d been taken for a ride by his dog. |
3. (US Und., also ride, take for a walk) to arrest.
| Racket Act I: Listen! You get off base with Joe Scarsi and you’ll get tagged out, like the last one who tried to take one of Nick’s friends for a ride. | |
| Rough Stuff 24: I thought sure as hell that we were going to be taken for a ride. | |
| Down Donkey Row 24: If those dicks had taken you for a walk it’d have meant twenty quid out of your pocket. | |
| Duke 13: You ain’t going to be president of nothing either if the cops bag you [...] They going to ride you. |