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Glite Dictionary
to ride one's luck

to ride one's luck

7.4
To rely on good luck instead of working for success
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : depender de la suerte
  • I didn't know until the last moment... so I'm riding my luck, as usual.

Examples

  • Sometimes she can really ride her luck by getting the last ticket to the concert.

  • After winning the lottery, he decided to ride his luck and travel the world.

  • Despite the risky decisions, she managed to ride her luck through the difficult times.

Synonyms

on a roll
vsto ride one's luck
  • Informal
42 5.6

A period of continued success and good luck

is about relying on ongoing chance rather than making effort
to luck it
vsto ride one's luck
  • UK
9.9

To try something without planning or skill and hope that luck helps

depends on continued chance rather than personal effort
to ride luck
vsto ride one's luck
  • Informal
7.3

To take a risk and hope things go well

depends on ongoing chance instead of personal effort
to luck through life
vsto ride one's luck
  • UK
7.9

To succeed in life because of luck, not effort

relies on sustained chance rather than personal effort
to luck through
vsto ride one's luck
  • UK
8.6

To succeed by chance without skill or planning

depends on continued chance rather than on steady personal effort

Antonyms

to take action
161 2.8

To do something to solve a problem or make a change

How Risky

to push one's luck
  • Informal
6.8
to ride one's luck
  • Informal
7.4
to plan
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

ride one's luck infinitive
riding one's luck present participle
rides one's luck third person singular
rode one's luck past
ridden one's luck past participle

Morphology

ride + one + luck

The meaning 'to depend on continued good fortune' is directly inferable from combining 'ride' (used metaphorically as 'be carried by' or 'depend on') with 'one's luck' (the source of fortune). This is a straightforward, compositional metaphorical extension that follows normal English patterns and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows the constituent words.

Etymology

The phrase ride one's luck may come from the image of someone literally riding a horse or wave called luck, staying on while it carries them along. So it now means 'to depend on good luck instead of your own hard work'.