rid

See also: Appendix:Variations of "rid"

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɹɪd/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪd

Etymology 1

Fusion of Middle English redden (“to deliver from, rid, clear”) (from Old English hreddan (“to deliver, rescue, free from, take away”), from Proto-West Germanic *hraddjan, from Proto-Germanic *hradjaną (“to save, deliver”)) and Middle English ridden (“to clear away, remove obstructions”) (from Old English ġeryddan (“to clear land”), from Proto-Germanic *riudijaną (“to clear”), from Proto-Indo-European *rewdʰ- (“to clear land”). Akin to Old Frisian hredda (“to save”), Dutch redden (“to save, deliver”), German retten (“to save, deliver”), roden (“to clear”) and reuten (“to clear”), Old Norse ryðja (“to clear, empty”), Old Norse hrōðja (“to clear, strip”). More at redd.

Adjective

rid (not comparable) (not used attributively)

1. Released from an obligation, problem, etc. (usually followed by of).

   I’m glad to be rid of that stupid nickname.

Synonyms

• quit

 

Translations

released from

• French: débarrasser (fr)
• Malagasy: manafaka (mg), manala (mg)
• Scottish Gaelic: cuidhteas

Verb

rid (third-person singular simple present rids, present participle ridding, simple past rid or ridded, past participle rid or ridded or (rare, nonstandard) ridden)

1. (transitive) To free (something) from a hindrance or annoyance.

   Synonyms: deliver, disencumber

   We're trying to rid the world of poverty.

   • 1170, King Henry II (offhand remark)

     Will no one rid me of this troublesome priest?

   • 1964 May, “News and Comment: Minister hamstrings BR workshops”, in Modern Railways, page 291:

     If the Government believes that part of the railways' salvation is to be found in ridding them of extraneous concerns, it should have had the courage either to close the railway works down as quickly as possible, or to hive them off as an entirely separate concern, [...].

   • 2014 March 9, Jacob Steinberg, “Wigan shock Manchester City in FA Cup again to reach semi-finals”, in The Guardian:

     All the billions in the world and Manchester City still cannot rid themselves of the most persistent thorn in their side.

2. (transitive, chiefly obsolete) To banish.
   • 2008, John H. Goodwin, The Reluctant Spy, page 293:

     Worst of all were the leeches. The soldiers had managed to rid them from the camp interiors, but once you ventured out on patrol and into the wetlands, they were everywhere.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To kill.

Derived terms

• be rid of
• get rid of
• rid out
• rid up

 

Translations

to free from a hindrance or annoyance

• Bulgarian: избавям (bg) (izbavjam), отървавам (bg) (otǎrvavam)
• Catalan: alliberar (ca)
• Dutch: kwijt (nl)
• Finnish: vapauttaa (fi), päästää (fi)
• German: befreien (de), vom Halse schaffen
• Hungarian: megszabadít (hu)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: kvitte, fri (no), frigjøre (no)

  Nynorsk: kvitte

• Polish: uwalniać (pl) impf, uwolnić (pl) pf, wybawiać impf, wybawić (pl) pf
• Portuguese: libertar (pt)
• Russian: избавля́ть (ru) impf (izbavljátʹ), изба́вить (ru) pf (izbávitʹ)
• Spanish: liberar (es)
• Ukrainian: звільняти (zvilʹnjaty)

Etymology 2

Verb

rid

1. (obsolete or nonstandard) simple past and past participle of ride
   • 1852, William Makepeace Thackeray, “I Go on the Vigo Bay Expedition, Taste Salt Water and Smell Powder”, in The History of Henry Esmond, Esq. […] , volume II, London: […] Smith, Elder, & Company, […], →OCLC, page 96:

     He rid to the end of the village, where he alighted and ſent a man thence to Mr. Tuſher with a meſſage that a gentleman of London would ſpeak to him on urgent buſineſs.

   • 1930, William Faulkner, As I Lay Dying, Library of America, published 1985, page 67:

     "He would have rid that horse, too," pa says, "if I hadn't a stopped him. A durn spotted critter wilder than a catty-mount. A deliberate flouting of her and me."

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “rid”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “rid”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.

Anagrams

• D.R.I., DRI, Dir., IDR, dir, dir.

Danish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /riːd/, [ʁiðˀ]

Verb

rid

1. imperative of ride

Maltese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /riːt/

Verb

rid

1. second-person singular imperative of ried

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

rid

1. imperative of ride

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology 1

Verb

rid

1. present tense of ride
2. imperative of ride

Etymology 2

From Old Norse hríð.

Noun

rid f (definite singular rida or ridi, indefinite plural rider, definite plural ridene)

1. (pre-1938) alternative form of ri

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from French ride.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /rid/

Noun

rid n (plural riduri)

1. wrinkle, furrow, crease, line (on face)

Declension

	singular			plural
	indefinite	definite		indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	rid	ridul		riduri	ridurile
genitive-dative	rid	ridului		riduri	ridurilor
vocative	ridule			ridurilor

Further reading

• rid in DEX online—Dicționare ale limbii române (Dictionaries of the Romanian language)

Swedish

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -iːd

Verb

rid

1. imperative of rida