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Glite Dictionary
to ride herd

to ride herd

1 8.8
To sit on a horse and guide a group of cows
  • phrasal verb
  • /raɪd hɜrd/
  • US
translation icon : dirigir
  • She learned how to ride herd on the goats while leading them back to the barn.

Examples

  • Ever since I used to ride herd through this country.

    Cimarron (1960)

  • O'Malley and I will ride herd.

    The Last Sunset (1961)

  • She's been riding herd on you for two years now.

    McLintock! (1963)

  • She can ride herd on the remuda.

    The Last Sunset (1961)

  • The main point of the job, it turned out, was to ride herd on the drones to keep them from blundering into each other on turns.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • You know, you get the cows moving, riding herd means you're prodding them a lot.

  • Lord Chaynal had been apologetic when assigning Isriam to ride herd on the children.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • He recruits kids that might have a temptation to stray a little, and he rides herd on them," Hall said.

    Blog text (3)

  • The rancher had to ride herd on the cattle to keep them from straying too far.

  • During the round-up, he was assigned to ride herd on the horses to ensure they stayed together.

Synonyms

to herd
vsto ride herd
13 2.1

To move or drive animals as a group

controls animals from horseback rather than by general moving methods
to ride herd on
vsto ride herd
  • Informal
1 8.9

Keep a close watch on people and their work

is a literal animal driving action done from horseback rather than tight supervision

Antonyms

to neglect
256 3.8

Fail to care for someone or something you should look after

How Close

to ride herd
  • US
1 8.8
to supervise
189 3.5
to oversee
221 3.9
to observe
619 2.4

Surface Forms

ride herd infinitive
riding herd present participle
rides herd third person singular
rode herd past
ridden herd past participle

Morphology

ride + herd

The meaning 'to drive and manage a group of animals by riding alongside them' is directly and compositionally derived from 'ride' (to be carried on an animal) + 'herd' (a group of animals). This verb+noun combination follows ordinary English patterns and is cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can reasonably infer the meaning (though it can also be extended metaphorically to mean 'supervise').

Etymology

Ride herd comes from cowboys who would ride beside a herd of cattle to keep the animals together and stop them from wandering. That's why it means 'to drive and manage a group of animals'.