Ride shotgun
Suggest a CorrectionMeaning
To sit in the front passenger seat of a vehicle. It can also mean accompanying, assisting, supervising, or protecting someone or something.
Origin
Armed express guards genuinely sat beside stagecoach drivers, and shotgun messenger is recorded in the nineteenth century. The earliest located example of the exact phrase riding shotgun is nevertheless in Alfred Henry Lewis's 1905 Western novel The Sunset Trail, which describes guards accompanying a valuable stage load. Because that evidence is retrospective fiction, it should not be assumed that every stagecoach guard used the wording during the Old West itself. The modern passenger-seat sense developed naturally from the guard's position beside the driver.
Research Sources
Variants
- Sit shotgun
Usage Examples
- Amir rode shotgun and read the directions while Lena drove.
- A senior engineer rode shotgun on the database migration until every check had passed.
- I will ride shotgun so I can watch for the turning.