take for a ride

present singular third person takes for a ride · participle present taking for a ride · past took for a ride · participle past taken for a ride

1. idiomaticinformaltransitiveTo deceive someone.

   Two timing woman / Trying to take me for a ride

   1974, David Coverdale, Ritchie Blackmore, “Lady Double Dealer”, in Stormbringer, performed by Deep Purple

   2 more examples

   This image of Gerrard as Liverpool's grand protector chimes with everything we know about him and his passion for his club. From day one he was watching out for the bluffers and chancers who were seeking to take Liverpool for a ride.

   2018 May 4, Tom English, “Steven Gerrard: A 'seriously clever or recklessly stupid' Rangers appointment”, in BBC Sport

   Well, is it art? Is Mr. Cattelan taking us for a ride? Did you have to be there? Isn’t this banana just a banana, and not a wry commentary on male sexuality, genetic monocultures, or Central American geopolitics?

   2019 December 8, Jason Farago, “A (Grudging) Defense of the $120,000 Banana”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

   Synonyms: take for a drive

2. euphemisticidiomaticinformaltransitiveTo drive (a person) to a remote location in order to murder them.

   There had been previous killings, but Brent was the first to be taken for a ride in true gangster style. Police said his shooting had the earmarks of a professional job.

   1997, Ian Macdonald, Betty O'Keefe, The Mulligan Affair: Top Cop on the Take, page 37

   1 more example

   Yet he was kidnapped and "taken for a ride" in the fashion which Al Capone did so much to popularize in Chicago; and one story has it that he was shot only because the rope with which he was to have been hanged did not arrive in time.

   1936, The Elevator Constructor, volume 33, page 38

3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see take, for, a, ride.