ride shotgun

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English

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WOTD – 16 May 2020

Etymology

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An illustration of an attempt to kill Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of U.S. President James A. Garfield in 1881, by shooting at his prison van. A police officer who is riding shotgun (sense 1) returns fire.[n 1]

Possibly from early-20th-century depictions in books and films of the 19th-century practice of a person armed with a rifle or shotgun riding next to a stagecoach driver to provide protection from bandits, etc.[1]

Pronunciation

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Verb

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ride shotgun (third-person singular simple present rides shotgun, present participle riding shotgun, simple past rode shotgun, past participle ridden shotgun)

  1. (US, idiomatic) To accompany the driver of a vehicle on a journey as an armed escort (originally with a shotgun); (by extension) to accompany someone in order to assist and protect.
    He attended the meeting to ride shotgun for the sales team, in case anyone had a technical question.
    • 1905 April, Alfred Henry Lewis, “The Worries of Mr. Holiday”, in The Sunset Trail, New York, N.Y.: A[lfred] S[mith] Barnes & Co., →OCLC; republished New York, N.Y.: A[lbert] L[evi] Burt Company, publishers, July 1906, →OCLC, page 349:
      Wyatt and Morgan Earp were in the service of the Express Company. They went often as guards—"riding shotgun," it was called—when the stage bore unusual treasure.
    • 1913, Alfred Henry Lewis, “Old Monte, Official Drunkard”, in Faro Nell and Her Friends: Wolfville Stories, New York, N.Y.: G. W. Dillingham Company, →OCLC, page 105:
      Him drivin' stage that a-way, he ain't expected none to fight. [...] That's why, when the stage is stopped, the driver's never downed. Which if thar's money aboard, an' the express outfit wants it defended, they slams on some sport to ride shotgun that trip. It's for this shotgun speshulist to give the route agents an argyooment.
    • 1958, Stuart Elliott, Journal of Property Management, Chicago, Ill.: Institute of Real Estate Management, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 33, column 2:
      TV's Wells Fargo Agent Dale Robertson rides shotgun on the armored car which delivers to local Wells Fargo manager the plans for the new building the company will erect in Charlotte.
    • 1971 October 14, Richard J. Vander Plaat (witness), “Testimony of Richard J. Vander Plaat, New Jersey Commissioner, on Behalf of Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor”, in New Jersey–New York Airport Commission Compact: Hearings before Subcommittee No. 3 of the Committee on the Judiciary, House of Representatives, Ninety-second Congress on H.J. Res. 375, H.J. Res. 404, and H.J. Res. 433 Granting the Consent of Congress to the States of New Jersey and New York for Certain Amendments to the Waterfront Commission Compact, and for Entering into the Airport Commission Compact, and for Other Purposes: […] Serial No. 21 […], Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, published 1972, →OCLC, page 161:
      But the situation [of lost mail] has now improved because the Post Office now rides shotgun on the mails at a cost to the Post Office of $2½ million annually.
    • 1993 August 11, Tom Clancy, Without Remorse (Jack Ryan; book 1), New York, N.Y.: Putnam, →ISBN; republished as Without Remorse‎[2], New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, August 1994, →ISBN:
      Want me and some people on Rescue One, riding shotgun?
    • 2017, Margo Dewkett, “Fort Robinson State Park”, in Sage Meadows, Indianapolis, Ind.: Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 36:
      For a moment, I enjoyed thinking of the type of men who had ridden shotgun in the 1800s. I pictured them as bodyguards, armed with a shotgun and responsible to support, aid, and protect the driver when confronted by robbers.
  2. (US, idiomatic, by extension, slang) To ride in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, next to the driver.
    When both kids want to ride shotgun with Mom, they’ll just have to take turns.
    • 1999, H. Mel Malton, chapter 8, in Cue the Dead Guy (A Polly Deacon Murder Mystery), Toronto, Ont.: Napoleon Publishing/RendezVous Press, →ISBN, page 59:
      This is the classic children's theatre touring vehicle, with just enough seating space for four actors (who traditionally fight like five-year-olds about who gets to ride shotgun) and the stage manager, who gets to drive.
    • 2009, B. J. Daniels [pseudonym; Barbara Heinlein], chapter 4, in Shotgun Bride (Harlequin Intrigue; 1125; Whitehorse, Montana: The Corbetts; 1), Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin Enterprises, →ISBN, page 45:
      The memories of his ordeal had ridden shotgun with him the whole trip, but it was easier here, easier to worry about his father and Kate and this stupid marriage pact than to face what he'd left in Texas.
    • 2014, Frances Washburn, “The Scenic Fourth of July Rodeo and Dance”, in The Red Bird All-Indian Traveling Band (Sun Tracks: An American Indian Literary Series; 77), Tucson, Ariz.: University of Arizona Press, →ISBN, page 5:
      Sissy rode shotgun with Clayton Red Bird driving his old Chevy Impala, the backseat crammed with guitars, a bass, microphones, leads, and all the other paraphernalia that they needed to play the gig in the Longhorn after the rodeo.
    • 2018 December 25, Austin Murphy, “I Used to Write for Sports Illustrated. Now I Deliver Packages for Amazon.”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic‎[3], Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 22 October 2019:
      Before sending me out alone, the company assigned me two "ride-alongs" with its top driver, the legendary Marco, who went out with 280 packages the second day I rode shotgun with him, took his full lunch break, did not roll through a single stop sign, and was finished by sundown.
  3. (US, idiomatic, by extension, slang) To supervise a process and watch for any risks.
    • 1997, Michael McKenzie, chapter 1, in Arrowhead: Home of the Chiefs, Lenexa, Kan.: Addax Pub. Group, →ISBN, page 16:
      He has ridden shotgun over Hunt's financial affairs since Hunt was a baby in business, ascending to the head chair on the board that governs the Chiefs and the Hunt Midwest Enterprises empire of mining and real estate development.
    • 2005 December, Gail Perry, “Acknowledgements”, in Show Me!: Quickbooks 2006 (Show Me!), Indianapolis, Ind.: Que Publications, →ISBN, page iii:
      Thank you also to Stacey Ammerman, who rode shotgun on the technical editing end of this book to make sure everything you read is easy to understand and actually works the way it is supposed to.
    • 2007, Gary Keller, “Foreword”, in Rick Villani, Clay Davis, Flip: How to Find, Fix, and Sell Houses for Profit, New York, N.Y., Chicago, Ill.: McGraw-Hill, →DOI, →ISBN, page viii:
      Not only are they investors, they run a company, HomeFixers, that helps hundreds of other investors each year. What they bring to the table is hard-won brass-tacks knowledge from over fifteen years of personal investing as well as riding shotgun on over 1,000 flips with their clients.

Coordinate terms

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Translations

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Notes

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  1. ^ From H. H. Alexander (1882) “Introduction”, in The Life of Guiteau and the Official History of the Most Exciting Case on Record: Being the Trial of Guiteau for Assassinating Pres. Garfield. […], Philadelphia, Pa., Chicago, Ill., St. Louis, Mo.: National Publishing Company, →OCLC, plate between pages 56 and 57.

References

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  1. ^ See, for example, “What’s the Origin of ‘Riding Shotgun’?”, in The Straight Dope‎[1], 2004 April 13, archived from the original on 10 April 2019.

Further reading

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