Lev. xxvi. 6.
Death's men, you have rid this sweet young prince!
Shak.
4. To get over; to dispose of; to dispatch; to finish. [R.]
"Willingness rids way." Shak.
Mirth will make us rid ground faster than if thieves were at our
tails.
J. Webster.
To be rid of, to be free or delivered from. -- To get rid of, to get
deliverance from; to free one's self from.
Rid"a*ble (?), a. Suitable for riding; as, a ridable horse; a ridable
road.
Rid"dance (?), n. 1. The act of ridding or freeing; deliverance; a
cleaning up or out.
Thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field.
Lev. xxiii. 22.
2. The state of being rid or free; freedom; escape. "Riddance from all
adversity." Hooker.
Rid"den (?), p. p. of Ride.
Rid"der (?), n. One who, or that which, rids.
Rid"dle (?), n. [OE. ridil, AS. hridder; akin to G. reiter, L. cribrum,
and to Gr. &?;&?;&?; to distinguish, separate, and G. rein clean. See
Crisis, Certain.] 1. A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for
separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders
from ashes, or gravel from sand.
2. A board having a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is
drawn to straighten it.
Rid"dle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Riddled (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Riddling
(?).] 1. To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass
through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.
2. To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many holes in; as,
a house riddled with shot.
Rid"dle, n. [For riddels, s being misunderstood as the plural ending;
OE. ridels, redels. AS. r&?;dels; akin to D. raadsel, G. räthsel; fr.
AS. r&?;dan to counsel or advise, also, to guess. √116. Cf.
Read.] Something proposed to be solved by guessing or conjecture; a
puzzling question; an ambiguous proposition; an enigma; hence, anything
ambiguous or puzzling.
To wring from me, and tell to them, my secret, That solved the
riddle which I had proposed.
Milton.
'T was a strange riddle of a lady.
Hudibras.
Rid"dle, v. t. To explain; to solve; to unriddle.
Riddle me this, and guess him if you can.
Dryden.
Rid"dle, v. i. To speak ambiguously or enigmatically. "Lysander riddels
very prettily." Shak.
Rid"dler (?), n. One who riddles (grain, sand, etc.).
Rid"dler, n. One who speaks in, or propounds, riddles.
Rid"dling (?), a. Speaking in a riddle or riddles; containing a riddle.
"Riddling triplets." Tennyson. -- Rid"dling, adv.
Ride (rd), v. i. [imp. Rode (rd) (Rid [rd], archaic); p. p. Ridden
(&?;) (Rid, archaic); p. pr. & vb. n. Riding (&?;).] [AS. rdan; akin to
LG. riden, D. rijden, G. reiten, OHG. rtan, Icel. rða, Sw. rida, Dan.
ride; cf. L. raeda a carriage, which is from a Celtic word. Cf. Road.]
1. To be carried on the back of an animal, as a horse.
To-morrow, when ye riden by the way.
Chaucer.
Let your master ride on before, and do you gallop after him.
Swift.
2. To be borne in a carriage; as, to ride in a coach, in a car, and the
like. See Synonym, below.
The richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not by riding in
gilden carriages, but by walking the streets with trains of
servants.
Macaulay.