Holborn Hill; High-horse; Hobby-horse; Marylebone Stage; Romford; Rough-*shod; Spanish Mare; Stang; Wild-mare.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, Gen. Prol., 45. A knight ther was . . . That fro the time that he firste began To riden out, he loved chevalrie.
1737. Boswell, Johnson, I. v. note. Both used to talk pleasantly of this their first journey to London. Garrick . . . said one day in my hearing, 'We rode and tied.'
1742. Fielding, Joseph Andrews, ii. 2. They . . . agreed to ride and tie. . . . The two . . . set out together, one on horseback, the other on foot: he on horseback . . . when he arrives at the distance agreed on . . . is to dismount, tie his horse to some gate, tree, post . . . and then proceed on foot; when the other comes up to the horse, he unties him, mounts, and gallops on; till having passed by his fellow traveller, he likewise arrives at the place of tying.
c. 1787. Ireland Sixty Years Ago (1847), 51. To guard themselves from encroachment, the citizens from time immemorial perambulated the boundaries of their chartered district every third year, and this was termed riding their franchises, corrupted into riding the fringes.
Rider, subs. (common).—A question
or clause added to a geometrical
problem, an Act of Parliament,
an examination paper, &c.
1852. Dickens, Bleak House, xxxix. Vholes finally adds, by way of rider to this declaration of his principles . . . perhaps Mr. C. will favour him with an order on his agent.
1885. Report of Com. of Council on Education in Scotland for 1884, 285. They showed a very satisfactory knowledge of Euclid's propositions, and a very creditable porportion of students worked a considerable number of the riders.
2. See Ride, verb. 1.
3. (old).—A Dutch coin with a man on horseback, worth about twenty-seven shillings: also a Scots gold piece issued by James VI.
1647. Fletcher, Woman's Prize, I, 2. His mouldy money! Half a dozen riders, That cannot sit, but stampt fast to their saddles.
4. (old).—A commercial traveller; a bagman (q.v.).
1810. Crabbe, Borough, iv. The come to us as riders in a trade.
1825. Lamb, Letters, cxii. A rider in his youth, travelling for shops.
Ridge (or Redge), subs. (old).—Gold:
manufactured or specie:
in latter case specifically = a
guinea. Whence, ridge-montra
= a gold watch; cly full of
ridge = a pocket-full of money;
ridge-cully = a goldsmith.—B.
E. (c. 1696); Parker (1781);
Grose (1785); Vaux (1812).
Ridiculous, adj. (provincial).—See
quot. 1847.
1847. Halliwell, Archaic . . . Words, &c., s.v. Ridiculous. . . . Something very indecent and improper is understood; as, any violent attack upon a woman's chastity is called "very ridiculous behaviour:" a very disorderly, and ill-conducted house, is also called a "ridiculous one."
1889. Notes and Queries, 7 S., ix. 453. A man once informed me that the death by drowning of a relative was most ridiculous.
Riding-hag, subs. phr. (colloquial).—The
night-mare: also the
riding of the witch.
Riff-raff (raff or raffle), subs.
(old).—1. Refuse, lumber; (2)
the mob: spec. (Oxford Univ.)
town (q.v.) as opposed to gown
(q.v.), or vice versâ; and (3)
booty: as adj. = worthless.
Whence raff-merchant = a
marine-store dealer; raffish =
disreputable; raffishness =
scampishness. As verb, raff (or
raffle) = to live filthily, to pig
it (q.v.). Raffle-coffin = 'a
ruffian, ribald fellow.'—B. E.
(c. 1696); Grose (1785).
