to ride horseback
2
3.7
- phrasal verb
- Years ago, he rode horseback along the county roads to call on patients.
- a man riding horseback
Examples
-
Red Fox James, Blackfeet, rode horseback from state to state, getting endorsements from 24 state governments to have a day to honor American Indians.
Blog text (30) -
Away from the field, they rode horseback together.
Fiction book (1999) -
We used to ride horseback down the arroyo to the intersection of roads.
Fiction book (2002) -
She'd ridden horseback a lot in her girlhood.
Fiction book (1995) -
On weekends, we love to ride horseback through the beautiful countryside.
-
She learns how to ride horseback during her summer camp in Montana.
-
After taking lessons, he was excited to ride horseback for the first time.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To travel by bike, horse, or car
25
1.9
To move or ride at a horse's fastest speed
7
8.1
To ride a horse slowly for pleasure in the countryside
4
2.1
To make a horse move faster than a walk but slower than a run or ride it at that pace
3
6.0
To move at a steady three-beat pace between a trot and a gallop
Antonyms
How Fast
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to ride on a horse' is directly and transparently derived from combining 'ride' (to be carried on an animal) with 'horseback' (the back of a horse used for riding). This verb + location/vehicle composition follows regular English patterns and is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will be able to infer the meaning.
Etymology
Ride horseback comes from a simple picture: to ride is to sit on an animal and horseback is the horse's 'back', so you are sitting on the horse to travel. That's why ride horseback means 'to ride on a horse'.