free ride

plural free rides

1. idiomaticAn opportunity or benefit which has no cost, especially one enjoyed or undertaken at the expense of others.

   Financially, the two New York teams have not asked for the sort of free ride at taxpayer expense that has been commonplace elsewhere.

   2006 April 9, “A Yankees Station in the Bronx”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 Jun 2009

   1 more example

   Previously, shoppers were given a free ride on charges until the end of the month. Now interest will start on the day of purchase on accounts with balances.

   1980 March 31, “The Shaky House of Cards”, in Time

2. businessThe practice of buying and selling shares or other securities without actually having the capital to cover the trade.
3. card gamesA hand in which a player can remain without betting further money.

present singular third person free rides · participle present free riding · past free rode · participle past free ridden

1. To take a free ride; to take advantage of a benefit without contributing.

   Finally, the level of excludahility of a CPR should affect the propensity to free ride.

   1999, J. Samuel Barkin, George E. Shambaugh, Anarchy and the Environment, →ISBN

   2 more examples

   Less than half the participants chose to free ride in each of the first two experiments, but the great majority (77 percent) did in the last.

   2000, André Blais, To Vote Or Not to Vote?: The Merits and Limits of Rational Choice Theory, →ISBN, pages 119–120

   If an issue involves a purely private good such as a regulatory waiver or a tax loophole that would benefit only a single corporation, there is no opportunity to free ride.

   2013, Kenneth Godwin, Scott H. Ainsworth, Erik Godwin, Lobbying and Policymaking, →ISBN

2. businessTo buy and sell shares or other securities without actually having the capital to cover the trade.