Green’s Dictionary of Slang

ride n.

1. in sexual contexts [ride v. (1a)].

(a) sexual intercourse.

[UK]Skelton Mannerly Margery Mylk and Ale line 11: I am no hackney for your rode.
[UK]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’.
[UK] ‘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.
[UK]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]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?
[UK] ‘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]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.
[US]‘The Bicycle’ in Bawdy N.Y. State MS. n.p.: And when the ride comes to an end, / They both get off together.
[US]Odum & Johnson 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.
[US]C. Willingham End as a Man (1952) 198: I’m going to call her in one night and give her a ride.
[UK]G. Kersh 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.
[UK]L. Dunne Goodbye to The Hill (1966) 95: With Mrs. Kearney I wanted a good ride and so did she.
[US]E. Thompson 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]B. Geldof 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’.
[Ire]R. Doyle Snapper 73: I suppose a ride’s ou’ of the question.
[UK]G. Burn Happy Like Murderers 316: I had a good ride last night off your mother.
[UK]C. McPherson 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.
[UK]R. Milward Ten Storey Love Song 253: Johnnie’s too busy giving Ellen the ride of her life to notice.
[UK]D. O’Donnell Locked Ward (2013) 309: ‘He said he needed a ride,’ said a girl.
[US]T. Pluck ‘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.
[Ire]L. McInerney 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.

[Ire](con. 1880–90s) S. O’Casey I Knock at the Door 55: We met two lovely big-diddied rides, and they were all for us going home with them.
[US]‘Sheldon Lord’ 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.
[Ire]R. Doyle Snapper 64: Isn’t she lovely? – Oh si. Si. A little ride.
[Scot]I. Welsh Glue 33: She’s wi ehr mate, another ride whae ah’ve seen aboot.
[US]Mad mag. Jan. 18: Look at the headlights on that ride. What is that? A Pontiac? I was talking about your mother.
[US]Simon & Zorzi ‘Unconfirmed Reports’ Wire ser. 5 ep. 2 [TV script] ‘How was that brunette?’ ‘Must have been a decent ride, ’cos he never went home’.
[Scot](con. 1980s) I. Welsh Skagboys 24: Heh-low . . . ride alert, ride alert . . . the daughter has turned oot a right wee fuckin belter!
Chief Keef ‘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.
[Ire]P Howard Braywatch 334: A few minutes later, a woman in a black suit arrives out – a total focking ride.

(c) an act of sodomy.

[US]C. Panzram 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.

[Scot](con. mid-1960s) J. Patrick Glasgow Gang Observed 106: Ah’ll wrap a blade roun’ yir fuckin’ throats, ya rides ye.

(e) (US prison) the warden.

[US]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.

[Ire]R. Doyle Snapper 41: He’s a ride, isn’t he?
[Scot]I. Welsh ‘Where the Debris Meets the Sea’ in Acid House 88: Total fuckin ride. Ah bet eh’s hung like a hoarse.
[Ire]R. Doyle 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.

[US]C.G. Givens ‘Chatter of Guns’ in Sat. Eve. Post 13 Apr. list extracted in AS VI:2 (1930) 134: ride, n. Automobile.
[US]W.R. Burnett Widow Barony 58: As they reached the edge of town they saw a roadblock up ahead. ‘Ah-ah,’ said Chuck [...] ‘Fellows, I got a feeling we better just take our little ride and turn back. How about it?’.
[US]D. Goines Street Players 20: Them bitches was lookin’ at the ride.
[US]Ice-T ‘Drama’ 🎵 Had the ride packed up till we heard ‘Freeze!’.
[US](con. 1946) G. Pelecanos Big Blowdown (1999) 54: A horn sounded outside the plate-glass window [...] ‘That’s my ride, Nick.’.
[US](con. 1990s) in J. Miller One of the Guys 61: ‘They got cars, rides, you don’t have no car’.
[US]J. Stahl I, Fatty 140: The Renault (a Frog ride I got as a gift).
[UK]D.S. Mitchell Killer Tune (2008) 33: I’ll run you home in your ride.
[Scot]L. McIlvanney All the Colours 83: ‘Scooby [...] Nice ride. Is it turbo, mister?’.
[US]G. Pelecanos (con. 1972) What It Was 203: Jones and Watkins had to have left their ride deeper south into Crestwood.
[Aus]D. Whish-Wilson Zero at the Bone [ebook] The Statesman wasn’t Hogan’s regular ride.
67 ‘Hashtag’ 🎵 Come in tryna take that whole road / And tryna jump out the ride with weapons.
[US]T. Pluck Bad Boy Boogie [ebook] ‘Ride’s waiting for you at the curb’.
[US]J. Hannaham 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.
[Aus]D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 197: [H]is new ride, the Holden that ran smoothly.

(b) (US campus) a bicycle or motorcycle.

[US]Eble Campus Sl. Spring 7: ride – a car, bike, motorcycle.
[US]S.A. Crosby Razorblade Tears 247: A few were leaning against their rides.

(c) (US black) a skateboard.

[UK]J. Mowry 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.

[US]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.

[US]Goldin 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.
[US]J. Blake 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)].

[US]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)].

[US]G. Scott-Heron 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.
[US](con. WWII) T. Sanchez Hollywoodland (1981) 107: ‘Thirty bucks for the Horse, then?’ ‘Thirty bucks for the ride.’.

7. see take for a ride

In compounds

full ride (n.)

(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.
[US]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’.
[US]Arizona Republic (Phoenix, AZ) 2 Jan. Sports 7/1: She is currently considering a two-year full-ride athletic scholarship.
[US]P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 162: With grades and test scores like these [...] you’re a shoo-in, full ride and all.
[US]D. Winslow 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

do a ride (v.)

to have sexual intercourse.

[UK]Partridge DSUE (1984) 317/1: from ca. 1860.
get a ride (v.)

to be taken by car to one’s execution.

[US]M. Spillane Long Wait (1954) 81: You pile us up and you’ll be the one getting a ride, not him.
give someone a ride (v.)

(US black) to lynch.

Dan Burley ‘Dan Burley’s Clothesline’ 22 Oct. [synd. col.] They broke up all that ‘unity’ jive when they gave Ben that ‘ride’ the other day.
give something a ride (v.)

to indulge (an idea, an action).

E. Wilson 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.
have a ride (v.)

(UK und.) to work as a cardsharp during a train journey.

[UK]Thieves Slang ms list from District Police Training Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore, Warwicks 5: Having a ride: Card sharpers using the train.
take a ride (v.)

(US) to suffer vilification.

[US]W. Winchell 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.
take for a ride (v.) (also take for a long drive)

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.

[US]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.
[US]Illinois Association for Criminal Justice et al. Illinois Crime Survey 902: Capone [...] and a host of other gangsters [...] found that with such weapons as bombs, sawed-off shotguns, machine-guns, and the threat of being ‘taken for a ride,’ they need not confine themselves to the ‘beer racket’ .
[US]E.H. Lavine Third Degree (1931) 31: Often, too, his reward for his achievement is to be taken for a ride.
[US]D. Runyon ‘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.
[US]H.M. Anderson Strip Tease 33: Another stripper’s boy friend was taken for a ride and dumped into Long Island Sound.
[US]I. Shulman Amboy Dukes 45: You’ll take me for a ride?
[US]Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 101: go for a ride To be taken for a death ride.
[Aus]S.J. Baker in Sun. Herald (Sydney) 8 June 9/4: Other American expressions [...] recorded among our criminals include: [...] ‘stool pigeon,’ ‘scram,’ and ‘take for a ride’.
[US](con. 1920s) ‘Harry Grey’ Hoods (1953) 85: We [...] permanently ‘ostracized’ him from society [...] we took him for a trip into the wilds of the ‘Borscht Country.’.
[US]E. De Roo Young Wolves 151: I’m taking you for a ride. All the way!
[US]Mad mag. Sept. 29: Some day I’m sure that he / Will take me for a ride.
[US]Ragen & Finston 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.
[US]E. Torres 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.
[US]G.W. Clemente 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’.
[Aus]D. Whish-Wilson I Am Already Dead 121: ‘Did either you [...] have anything to do with [...] , his disappearance?’ Bamber looked at Lee [...] ‘No, son, I’ve fantasised about taking him for the long drive, but no’.

2. (orig. US, also give a ride, take for a trot) to deceive, to fool, to trick, usu. for financial gain.

[US]E. O’Neill in Bogard & Bryer Sel. Letters (1988) 317: Nobody ever ‘took me for a ride’ before in anything but trifling matters.
[US]J. Lait Gangster Girl 9: [They] had taken her for a ride—but she had made a miraculous getaway.
[US]N. Algren Never Come Morning (1988) 141: He’ll [...] sell you an oil well ’r take a merry widow for a ride on her insurance money.
[US]J. Jones 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.
[Aus]B. Humphries Barry McKenzie [comic strip] in Complete Barry McKenzie (1988) 14: Has Barry been taken for a ride? See next issue.
[US]R.D. Pharr S.R.O. (1998) 293: ‘So I’m not the only one who’s taking Welfare for a ride’.
[US]B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 96: give somebody a ride (dated) to lie; stretch the truth. Syn: take somebody on a ride.
[UK]P. Fordham Inside the Und. 45: He had been taken for a ride in his youth by the ‘acky’ trick.
[UK]‘John le Carré’ Smiley’s People 175: Otto Leipzig’s taking us for a ride [...] Kirov’s a plant.
[UK]P. Barker Union Street 205: You took him for a trot, didn’t you?
[US]T. Jones Pugilist at Rest 147: That bitch is insane, Window, and she’s taking you for a ride. She’s hustling you, man!
[US]‘Randy Everhard’ 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.’.
[Aus]B. Matthews 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.

[US]B. Cormack 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.
[US]‘Goat’ Laven Rough Stuff 24: I thought sure as hell that we were going to be taken for a ride.
[UK]L. Ortzen Down Donkey Row 24: If those dicks had taken you for a walk it’d have meant twenty quid out of your pocket.
[US]‘Hal Ellson’ Duke 13: You ain’t going to be president of nothing either if the cops bag you [...] They going to ride you.