Verb

(transitive) To transport oneself by sitting on and directing a horse, later also a bicycle etc.

* 1597 , William Shakespeare, King Henry IV, part 1 :

Go Peto, to horse: for thou, and I, / Haue thirtie miles to ride yet ere dinner time.

* 1814 , Jane Austen, Mansfield Park :

I will take my horse early tomorrow morning and ride over to Stoke, and settle with one of them.

* 1923 , "Mrs. Rinehart", Time , 28 Apr 1923:

It is characteristic of her that she hates trains, that she arrives from a rail-road journey a nervous wreck; but that she can ride a horse steadily for weeks through the most dangerous western passes.

* 2010 , The Guardian , 6 Oct 2010:

The original winner Azizulhasni Awang of Malaysia was relegated after riding too aggressively to storm from fourth to first on the final bend.

(transitive) To be transported in a vehicle; to travel as a passenger.

* 1851 , Herman Melville, Moby-Dick :

Now, in calm weather, to swim in the open ocean is as easy to the practised swimmer as to ride in a spring-carriage ashore.

* 1960 , "Biznelcmd", Time , 20 Jun 1960:

In an elaborately built, indoor San Francisco, passengers ride cable cars through quiet, hilly streets.

The cab rode him downtown.

Of a ship: to sail, to float on the water.

* Dryden

Men once walked where ships at anchor ride .

* 1719 , Daniel Defoe, Robinson Crusoe :

By noon the sea went very high indeed, and our ship rode forecastle in, shipped several seas, and we thought once or twice our anchor had come home

(intransitive) To be carried or supported by something lightly and quickly; to travel in such a way, as though on horseback.

The witch cackled and rode away on her broomstick.

To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle.

A horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.

(transitive) To mount (someone) to have sex with them; to have sexual intercourse with.

* c. 1390 , Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Nun's Priest's Tale", Canterbury Tales :

Womman is mannes Ioye and al his blis / ffor whan I feele a nyght your softe syde / Al be it that I may nat on yow ryde / ffor þat oure perche is maad so narwe allas [...].

* 1997 , Linda Howard, Son of the Morning , p. 345:

She rode him hard, and he squeezed her breasts, and she came again.

(colloquial) To nag or criticize; to annoy (someone).

* 2002 , Myra MacPherson, Long Time Passing: Vietnam and the haunted generation , p. 375:

“One old boy started riding me about not having gone to Vietnam; I just spit my coffee at him, and he backed off.

Of clothing: to gradually move (up) and crease; to ruckle.

* 2008 , Ann Kessel, The Guardian , 27 Jul 2008:

In athletics, triple jumper Ashia Hansen advises a thong for training because, while knickers ride up, ‘thongs have nowhere left to go’: but in Beijing Britain's best are likely, she says, to forgo knickers altogether, preferring to go commando for their country under their GB kit.

To rely, depend (on).

* 2006 , "Grappling with deficits", The Economist , 9 Mar 2006:

With so much riding on the new payments system, it was thus a grave embarrassment to the government when the tariff for 2006-07 had to be withdrawn for amendments towards the end of February.

Of clothing: to rest (in a given way on a part of the body).

* 2001 , Jenny Eliscu, "Oops...she's doing it again", The Observer , 16 Sep 2001:

She's wearing inky-blue jeans that ride low enough on her hips that her aquamarine thong peeks out teasingly at the back.

(lacrosse) To play defense on the defensemen or midfielders, as an attackman.

To manage insolently at will; to domineer over.

* Jonathan Swift

The nobility could no longer endure to be ridden by bakers, cobblers, and brewers.

To convey, as by riding; to make or do by riding.

* Sir Walter Scott

The only men that safe can ride / Mine errands on the Scottish side.

(surgery) To overlap (each other); said of bones or fractured fragments.

Verb

(danc)

To move with rhythmic steps or movements, especially in time to music.

*

, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=4 , passage=“Well,” I answered, at first with uncertainty, then with inspiration, “he would do splendidly to lead your cotillon, if you think of having one.” ¶ “So you do not dance , Mr. Crocker?” ¶ I was somewhat set back by her perspicuity.}}

To leap or move lightly and rapidly.

* Byron

Shadows in the glassy waters dance .

To perform the steps to.

To cause to dance, or move nimbly or merrily about.

* (William Shakespeare)

to dance our ringlets to the whistling wind

* (William Shakespeare)

Thy grandsire loved thee well; / Many a time he danced thee on his knee.