rider

Etymology

From Middle English ryder, ridere, from Late Old English rīdere (“rider, knight”). Compare Dutch rijder, German Reiter. By surface analysis, ride +‎ -er.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) enPR: rī'də(r), IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.də(ɹ)/, [ˈɹ̠aɪdə(ɹ̠)]
• (General American) enPR: rī'dər, IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.dəɹ/, [ˈɹ̠aɪɾɚ]
  • (Inland Northern American) IPA^(key): [ˈɹ̠äɪɾɚ]
• (General Australian) enPR: rī'də(r), IPA^(key): /ˈɹɑɪ.də(ɹ)/, [ˈɹ̠ʷɑe̯də(ɹʷ)]
• (Canada) IPA^(key): /ˈɹaɪ.dəɹ/, [ˈɹ̠aɪɾ(ə)ɹ̠]
  • (dialectal) IPA^(key): /ˈɹʌɪ.dəɹ/, [ˈɹ̠əjɾ(ə)ɹ̠]

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪdə(ɹ)
• Homophone: writer (with flapping but without Canadian raising)

Noun

rider (plural riders)

1. A mounted person.
   1. (now archaic or historical) A knight, or other mounted warrior. [from 11th c.]
   2. An old Dutch gold coin with the figure of a man on horseback stamped upon it. [from 14th c.]
      • c. 1609–1622?, John Fletcher, “The Womans Prize: Or, The Tamer Tamed”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):

        His mouldy money! half a dozen riders.

   3. (generally) Someone who rides a horse or (later) a bicycle, motorcycle etc. [from 14th c.]
      • 1807, [Miss Guion], chapter II, in The Three Germans. Mysteries Exemplified in the Life of Holstein of Lutztein. A German Romance. […], volume I, London: […] J[ames] F[letcher] Hughes, […], →OCLC, page 23:

        The eyes of Holstein de Dorenstorff stared, wildly, upon a figure, which at this instant appeared, mounted on a beautiful beast, […]; its rider was enveloped in a kind of large, concealing coat, which well answered the intent of its purport: […]

   4. (now historical or archaic) A mounted robber; a bandit, especially in the Scottish borders. [from 16th c.]
      • 1655, William Drummond of Hawthornden, History of Scotland […] :

        In Evosdale eight and fourty notorious Riders are hung on growing Trees, the most famous of which was John Arm-Strong

   5. (obsolete) Someone who breaks in or manages a horse; a riding master. [16th–17th c.]
      • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i]:

        They are taught their mannage, and to that end Riders deerely hir'd.

   6. (now rare, historical) An agent who goes out with samples of goods to obtain orders; a commercial traveller or travelling salesman. [from 18th c.]
      • 1790, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journal 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 70:

        I set out with a Paisley manufacturer and a London rider, the latter of whom I envied for his smartness and self-complacency.

   8. (now chiefly US) Someone riding in a vehicle; a passenger on public transport. [from 19th c.]
      • 2021 March 25, Somini Sengupta, Geneva Abdul, Manuela Andreoni, Veronica Penney, “Riders Are Abandoning Buses and Trains. That's a Problem for Climate Change.”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

        On the London Underground, Piccadilly Circus station is nearly vacant on a weekday morning, while the Delhi Metro is ferrying fewer than half of the riders it used to.

   9. (sports) A boarder, a person who rides a board in boardsports.
      1. (sports) A skateboarder
      2. (sports) A snowboarder
2. An addition, supplement.
   1. (politics) A supplementary clause added to a document after drafting, especially to a bill under the consideration of a legislature. [from 17th c.]
   2. An amendment or addition to an entertainer's performance contract, often covering a performer's equipment or food, drinks, and general comfort requirements. [from 20th c.]
      • 2023 July 10, 1:07:39 from the start, in The Making of IMMORTALITY‎:

        I had sixteen nudity riders to sign and having Jean, our intimacy coordinator, Jean Franzblau, was absolutely pivotal to being able to do this.

   3. An additional matter or question arising in corollary; a qualification. [from 19th c.]
      • 2015, Ed Glinert, East End Chronicles‎, Penguin UK, →ISBN:

        But they would hush momentarily for the farce, specially if billed with the grand rider: 'licensed by the Lord Chamberlain expressly for this theatre'.

   4. A supplementary question, now especially in mathematics. [from 19th c.]
      • 1886, Arthur Sherburne Hardy, The Wind of Destiny:

        This [question] was a rider which Mab found difficult to answer.

   5. (insurance) An add-on to an insurance policy.
3. Technical senses.
   1. (shipbuilding) An interior rib occasionally fixed in a ship's hold, reaching from the keelson to the beams of the lower deck, to strengthen the frame. [from 17th c.]
      • 2016, Lucy Blue, Frederick M. Hocker, Anton Englert, Connected by the Sea:

        During the four weeks of research, a considerable part of the ships structure was discovered underneath the ballast stones: keel, floor timbers, strakes, keelson together with mast step and its sisters and rider

   2. (mining, now rare) Rock material in a vein of ore, dividing it. [from 17th c.]
   3. (nautical, in the plural) The second tier of casks in a vessel's hold. [from 19th c.]
   4. A small, sliding piece of thin metal on a balance, used to determine small weights. [from 19th c.]
   5. (cartomancy) The first Lenormand card, also known as either the horseman or the cavalier.
   6. (chess) A piece, such as the rook or bishop, which moves any distance in one direction, as long as no other piece is in the way.

See also

• (mounted person): mountie

Anagrams

• direr, drier, reird

Noun

rider c

1. indefinite plural of ride

Verb

rider

1. present of ride

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle French rider, from Old French rider (“to wrinkle”), from Old High German rīdan, wrīdan (“to turn; twist; wind; wring; wind up; wrench”), from Proto-West Germanic *wrīþan (“to turn, twist”). Cognate with German reiden (“to turn; tie up; lace”). More at writhe.

Etymology 2

Borrowed from English ride.

Verb

rider

1. to laugh

Noun

rider

1. Alternative form of ryder

Etymology

From Old French rider (“to wrinkle”), from Old High German rīdan (“to turn; twist”).

Verb

rider

1. to wrinkle

Etymology

From the verb rîden (“ride”). Cognate with English rider and German Reiter (“rider”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /riːðər/

Noun

rîder

1. a rider

Verb

rider

1. present of ride

Noun

rider m (plural rideres)

1. rider, biker (motorcyclist)

Verb

rider

1. present indicative of rida

Anagrams

• dirre