hitchhike

See also: hitch-hike

English

Alternative forms

• hitch-hike

Etymology

From hitch +‎ hike.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈhɪt͡ʃhaɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Verb

hitchhike (third-person singular simple present hitchhikes, present participle hitchhiking, simple past and past participle hitchhiked)

1. To try to get a ride in a passing vehicle while standing at the side of a road, generally by either sticking out one's finger or thumb or holding a sign with one's stated destination.
   • 1972, Lou Reed (lyrics and music), “Walk on the Wild Side”, in Transformer:

     Holly came from Miami, F-L-A / Hitchhiked her way across the U.S.A.

2. (by extension) To be carried along with something else.

   In genetic hitchhiking, a gene is propagated because it occurs in conjunction with a favourable mutation.

   In cultural hitchhiking, a cultural trait spreads with a technologically advanced population.

   • 2022 September 29, Carl Zimmer, “A New Approach to Spotting Tumors: Look for Their Microbes”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     We are constantly being exposed to fungi, whether by picking up spores on our skin or eating food on which fungi are hitchhiking. Most of them won’t take up residence in our bodies.

Synonyms

• hitch
• hitch a ride
• thumb a lift
• thumb a ride (US)

Translations

to try to get a ride in a passing vehicle while standing at the side of a road

• Albanian: please add this translation if you can
• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: ճանապարհորդել ավտոստոպով (čanaparhordel avtostopov)
• Basque: ^{(please verify)} autostop egin
• Breton: c'hoari biz-meud (br)
• Bulgarian: пътувам на автостоп (pǎtuvam na avtostop)
• Catalan: fer autoestop
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 搭便車／搭便车 (zh) (dābiànchē), 順風車／顺风车 (zh) (shùnfēngchē), 搭車／搭车 (zh) (dāchē)

• Czech: stopovat (cs)
• Danish: tomle (da), blaffe (da)
• Dutch: liften (nl), (Belgium) ^{(please verify)} autostop doen
• Esperanto: petveturi
• Estonian: hääletama
• Faroese: tumla
• Finnish: liftata (fi)
• French: faire de l’auto-stop, faire du stop
• Georgian: please add this translation if you can
• German: trampen (de), per Anhalter fahren
• Greek: κάνω οτοστόπ (káno otostóp)
• Hebrew: תָּפַס טְרֶמְפּ (tafás trémp), נָסַע בְּטְרֶמְפּ (nasá b'trémp)
• Hungarian: stoppol (hu), stoppal megy, autóstoppal megy
• Icelandic: fara á puttanum
• Ido: autostopar (io)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} fare l'autostop
• Japanese: ヒッチハイクする (hitchihaiku-suru)
• Khmer: ឈរតាមផ្លូវសុំដោយសារឡានគេ (chɔɔ taam phləw som daoy saa laan kei)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Lao: ໂບກລົດ (bōk lot)
• Latvian: īkšķot, stopēt (jargon)
• Lithuanian: tranzuoti, keliauti autostopu
• Macedonian: стопи́ра (stopíra), автостопи́ра (avtostopíra)
• Maori: haere paoeke
• Mongolian: (замын машинд) дайгдах ((zamyn mašind) dajgdax)
• Nepali: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: haike

  Nynorsk: haika

• Persian: اتواستپ کردن (oto-estop kardan)
• Polish: łapać okazję impf
• Portuguese: pedir carona (Brazil), pedir boleia (Portugal)
• Romanian: face autostopul, sta la ocazie (colloquial), sta la „ia-mă, nene” (colloquial)
• Russian: голосова́ть (ru) impf (golosovátʹ), проголосова́ть (ru) pf (progolosovátʹ, literally “vote”), путеше́ствовать автосто́пом (putešéstvovatʹ avtostópom) (see: автостоп)
• Scottish Gaelic: siubhail air an òrdaig
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: stopirati (sh)

• Slovak: ísť autostopom
• Slovene: štopati
• Spanish: (Colombia) ^{(please verify)} echar dedo , (especially Spain) hacer autostop, (Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Paraguay, Spain, Uruguay) ^{(please verify)} hacer dedo, (Ecuador) ^{(please verify)} jalar dedo, (Mexico, El Salvador) ^{(please verify)} pedir aventón , (Dominican Republic) ^{(please verify)} pedir bola , (Panama) ^{(please verify)} pedir bote , (Cuba) ^{(please verify)} pedir botella, (Colombian Caribbean Coast) ^{(please verify)} pedir chance, (Venezuela) ^{(please verify)} pedir cola, (Guatemala, Honduras) ^{(please verify)} pedir jalón , (Panama) ^{(please verify)} pedir lift , (Puerto Rico) ^{(please verify)} pedir pon , (Mexico, El Salvador, Nicaragua) ^{(please verify)} pedir raid , (Costa Rica - 'ride' pronounced 'raid') ^{(please verify)} pedir ride , (Peru) ^{(please verify)} tirar dedo
• Swedish: lifta (sv)
• Tamil: கெஞ்சுப்பயணம் (keñcuppayaṇam)
• Thai: โบกรถ (bòok-rót)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tongan: kole lifi
• Turkish: otostop çekmek

Noun

hitchhike (plural hitchhikes)

1. A journey made by hitchhiking.
2. (radio, advertising) Alternative form of hitchhiker (“advertisement at the end of a programme”)
   • 1952, Frank Emerson Andrews, Corporation Giving, page 183:

     There are just too many diseases for each to have its own special organization, complete with radio hitchhikes, sponsored ads, expensive brochures, pledge cards, team captains and collection envelopes.

See also

• hitchhiker