rider

plural riders

1. A mounted person.
   1. archaichistoricalA knight, or other mounted warrior.First known use 11th c.
   2. An old Dutch gold coin with the figure of a man on horseback stamped upon it.First known use 14th c.

      His mouldy money! half a dozen riders.

      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)

   3. generallySomeone who rides a horse or (later) a bicycle, motorcycle etc.First known use 14th c.

      BMX rider Saya Sakakibara is all too aware of the risks of her chosen profession.

      2024 July 9, Martynas Ruseckas, “After her brother suffered a brain injury in a bike crash, this Olympic BMX rider has a new perspective on what success means”, in CNN

      2 more examples

      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: […]

      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

      After riding high for two decades, the company that makes the hulky bikes that devoted riders affectionately call Hogs is sputtering. […] When customers buy a Harley, they’re instantly a member of a family of zealous fans — guys with tattoos and unruly hair as well as lawyers and doctors. (The average household income of today’s rider is about $87,000.)

      2009 March 22, Susanna Hamner, “Harley, You’re Not Getting Any Younger”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 09 Nov 2020

   4. PhilippinesA motorcycle enthusiast; a motorcycle club member.
   5. archaichistoricalA mounted robber; a bandit, especially in the Scottish borders.First known use 16th c.

      In Ewsdale eight and forty notorious riders are hung on growing trees, the most famous of which was John Armstrong

      1655, William Drummond of Hawthornden, History of Scotland […]

   6. obsoleteSomeone who breaks in or manages a horse; a riding master.First known use 16th–17th c.

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

      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]

   7. archaichistoricalAn agent who goes out with samples of goods to obtain orders; a commercial traveller or travelling salesman.First known use 18th c.

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

      1790, James Boswell, in Danziger & Brady (eds.), Boswell: The Great Biographer (Journal 1789–1795), Yale 1989, p. 70

   8. USSomeone riding in a vehicle; a passenger on public transport.First known use 19th c.

      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.

      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

   9. hobbiesA skateboarder

      In its May 1965 issue, Life magazine condemned skateboards as a “menace to limb and even to life,” and cautioned readers about riders who “take over the paths made for peaceful strollers.”

      2018 July 13, Jaime Marie Davis, “How photographers have captured skateboarding through generations”, in CNN

   10. hobbiesA snowboarder
2. An addition, supplement.
   1. governmentA supplementary clause added to a document after drafting, especially to a bill under the consideration of a legislature.First known use 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.First known use 20th c.

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

      2023 July 10, 1:07:39 from the start, in The Making of IMMORTALITY

   3. An additional matter or question arising in corollary; a qualification.First known use 19th c.

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

      2015, Ed Glinert, East End Chronicles, Penguin UK, →ISBN

      1 more example

      It was generally added, as a rider to this, that although Marxism was scientifically true it was bound to be resisted by the possessing classes, as it prophesied their downfall.

      1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in Polish), →ISBN, →OCLC, page 241

   4. A supplementary question, now especially in mathematics.First known use 19th c.

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

      1886, Arthur Sherburne Hardy, The Wind of Destiny

   5. businessAn add-on to an insurance policy.
3. Technical senses.
   1. businessAn interior rib occasionally fixed in a ship's hold, reaching from the keelson to the beams of the lower deck, to strengthen the frame.First known use 17th c.

      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

      2016, Lucy Blue, Frederick M. Hocker, Anton Englert, Connected by the Sea

   2. archaicbusinessRock material in a vein of ore, dividing it.First known use 17th c.
   3. in pluralnauticalThe second tier of casks in a vessel's hold.First known use 19th c.
   4. A small, sliding piece of thin metal on a balance, used to determine small weights.First known use 19th c.
   5. cartomancyThe first Lenormand card, also known as either the horseman or the cavalier.
   6. board gamesA piece, such as the rook or bishop, which moves any distance in one direction as long as no other piece is in the way.

      1 more example

      It simply blocks the cell to entry by any piece, though riders may pass over it (otherwise checkmates become difficult, since the coin could be used to block any distant check by a rider). […] Another type of rider is the Mao which is the knight in Chinese chess. It makes its move in two steps, a noncapturing wazir move followed by a fers move, so the cell moved through must be vacant. The Moa (W.Speckman) is a knight that moves as fers followed by wazir.

      2010 August 21, G. P. Jelliss, “Simple Chess Variants”, in Mayhematics, pages 9, 10

1. A surname originating as an occupation. More often spelled Ryder.