ride down

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

1. idiomatictransitiveequestrianismTo cause (a horse) to fall when riding.
2. transitiveTo catch or catch up with (someone) by chasing on horseback or in a vehicle.

   Then the lot of them rode him down for sport, striking him with their coup sticks.

   1950, Dorothy M. Johnson, A Man Called Horse; in Indian Country, London: Corgi, 1961, page 171

3. nauticalTo bear down, as on a halyard when hoisting a sail.
4. transitiveTo treat with severity.
5. transitiveTo withstand deceleration from (forces of impact).

   1 more example

   This fully restrained passenger rode down the impact forces with a much lower level of injuries than could be expected in a collision of this severity. His major injury was an AIS 2 contusion which resulted from the restraint shoulder strap. Had he been unrestrained, the expected injury from violent impacts with the A pillar and other frontal interior components could have been fatal.

   1986 July 28, National Transportation Safety Board, “CASE 24 (ATL-85-H-OR21)”, in Safety Study: Performance of Lap Belts in 26 Frontal Crashes, archived from the original on 08 Jul 2022, page 168