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ride shotgun

 - 6 dictionary results

shot⋅gun

  [shot-guhn] noun, adjective, verb, -gunned, -gun⋅ning.
Use ride shotgun in a Sentence
–noun
1. a smoothbore gun for firing small shot to kill birds and small quadrupeds, though often used with buckshot to kill larger animals.
2. Football. an offensive formation, designed primarily for passing situations, in which the backfield is spread out with the quarterback positioned a few yards behind the center and the other backs, as potential pass receivers, positioned as slotbacks or flankers.
–adjective
3. of, pertaining to, used in, or carried out with a shotgun: a shotgun murder; shotgun pellets.
4. covering a wide area in an irregularly effective manner without concern for details or particulars; tending to be all-inclusive, nonselective, and haphazard; indiscriminate in choice and indifferent to specific results: He favored the shotgun approach in his political attacks.
5. seeking a desired result through the use or inclusion of a wide variety of elements.
6. having all the rooms opening one into the next in a line from front to back: shotgun apartment; shotgun cottage.
7. gained or characterized by coercive methods.
–verb (used with object)
8. to fire a shotgun at.
—Idiom
9. ride shotgun,
a. (formerly) to ride atop a stagecoach as a shotgun-bearing guard.
b. to protect or keep a watchful eye on something: riding shotgun over the nation's economy.
Origin:
1770–80, Americanism; shot 1 + gun 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To ride shotgun
ride   (rīd)   
v.   rode (rōd), rid·den (rĭd'n), rid·ing, rides

v.   intr.

  1. To be carried or conveyed, as in a vehicle or on horseback.

  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. To sit on and move in a given direction: rode a motorcycle to town; ride a horse to the village.

  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.

  6. Nautical To keep (a vessel) at anchor.

  7. Informal

    1. To tease or ridicule.

    2. To harass with persistent carping and criticism.

  8. 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(s):
ride outTo survive or outlast: rode out the storm.

Idiom(s):
ride for a fallTo court danger or disaster.

Idiom(s):
ride herd onTo keep watch or control over.

Idiom(s):
ride highTo experience success.

Idiom(s):
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.


Idiom(s):
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 Indo-European roots.]
rid'a·ble, ride'a·ble adj.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source
Slang Dictionary
ride shotgun

  1. tv.
    to accompany and guard someone or something. (A term derived from the imagery of stagecoaches and their armed guards via Western movies. See also shotgun.) : I have to take the beer over to the party. Why don't you come along and ride shotgun?
  2. tv.
    to ride in the passenger seat of a car, next to the driver. : I want to ride shotgun so I don't have to sit back there with those guys.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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shotgun

  1. mod.
    broad; general. : A shotgun approach to a problem like this is useless. You must get specific.
  2. exclam.
    a phrase called out by someone who claims the privilege of riding in a car's passenger seat. (Usually Shotgun!) : Whoever yelled “shotgun” has to sit holding the cake all the way.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
Word Origin & History

shotgun 
1828, Amer.Eng., from shot in the sense of "lead in small pellets" (1770) + gun. As distinguished from a rifle, which fires bullets. Shotgun wedding first attested 1927, Amer.Eng.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Idioms & Phrases

ride shotgun

Guard someone or something while in transit, as in The reporter found himself in the odd position of riding shotgun for an accused mobster. This term alludes to the armed defender of a stagecoach who sat beside the driver to protect against marauders and bandits. Later it was transferred to anyone riding in the front passenger seat of a motor vehicle, as well as to the more general function of protection. [Mid-1900s]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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