To ride hard

Ride Ride, v. i. [imp. {Rode} (r[=o]d) ({Rid} [r[i^]d], archaic); p. p. {Ridden}({Rid}, archaic); p. pr. & vb. n. {Riding}.] [AS. r[=i]dan; akin to LG. riden, D. rijden, G. reiten, OHG. r[=i]tan, Icel. r[=i][eth]a, Sw. rida, Dan. ride; cf. L. raeda a carriage, which is from a Celtic word. Cf. {Road}.] 1. To be carried on the back of an animal, as a horse. [1913 Webster]

To-morrow, when ye riden by the way. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

Let your master ride on before, and do you gallop after him. --Swift. [1913 Webster]

2. To be borne in a carriage; as, to ride in a coach, in a car, and the like. See Synonym, below. [1913 Webster]

The richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not by riding in gilden carriages, but by walking the streets with trains of servants. --Macaulay. [1913 Webster]

3. To be borne or in a fluid; to float; to lie. [1913 Webster]

Men once walked where ships at anchor ride. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

4. To be supported in motion; to rest. [1913 Webster]

Strong as the exletree On which heaven rides. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

On whose foolish honesty My practices ride easy! --Shak. [1913 Webster]

5. To manage a horse, as an equestrian. [1913 Webster]

He rode, he fenced, he moved with graceful ease. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

6. To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle; as, a horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast. [1913 Webster]

{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. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Drive.

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. [1913 Webster]

``Will you ride over or drive?'' said Lord Willowby to his quest, after breakfast that morning. --W. Black. [1913 Webster]