> as lemmas

1660 J. Sadler Olbia 205 I will Ride them down..as Lambs for slaughter.

1696 J. Lead Fountain of Gardens 369 This is the Lamb and the Bride, which shall the Dragon and the Beast, with all his horned Power ride down.

1777 W. Nimmo Gen. Hist. Stirlingshire x. 228 A woman.., upon observing a man in armour galloping full speed towards her,..ran off, afraid of being rode down.

1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. i. 11 He..was on the point of riding down a large old roomy family carriage.

1856 C. J. Andersson Lake Ngami 266 The ostrich is also at times ridden down by a single horseman.

1910 A. Chapman & W. J. Buck Unexplored Spain v. 58 The way they ride down a wounded stag or boar.

1932 ‘L. G. Gibbon’ Sunset Song iv. 223 As the minister tried to ride him down Rob caught the handles and twisted them sore, and off the minister came, like a sack of corn.

1962 E. T. Benson Cross Fire xxxvii. 337 Campaigning I read about all this. Read how a young boy trying to shoot up a tank was ridden down and crushed beneath the caterpillar treads.

2003 S. Warring in D. Chislett Urban 3 71 I see them cut them out, ride them down, challenge them, win their respect,..slide the bridles over their rolling eyes.

1670 J. Eachard Grounds Contempt of Clergy 111 I could procure hundreds, that should ride both Sun and Moon down, and be everlastingly yours.

1706 J. Metford Proposal for Parochial Reformation ix. 39 Travellers Ride down the Honour of the Lord's Day.

1728 H. Fielding Love in Several Masques i. v. 12 Being a Day of Business, I have rid down two Brace of Chairmen this Morning.

1840 R. H. Dana Two Years before Mast xvii. 155 When officers are once determined to ‘ride a man down’, it is a gone case with him.

1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People ix. §9. 700 The support of the Commons..enabled Harley to ride down all resistance.

1910 J. Buchan Prester John xx. 190 I had ridden the night down, and did not feel so very tired.

1941 D. C. Allen Star Crossed Renaissance v. 190 They united like so many fox-hunting squires to ride down the pretenses of the extreme school of judicial astrologers.

1966 W. E. Wright Serf, Seigneur, & Sovereign 160 Obstacles were there to be ridden down, prejudices to be ridiculed. His was the direct, forceful method.

1682 W. Wycherley Epist. to King & Duke i. 25 So gadding Princes, Hackneys are to empty Fame, Who Loads 'em 'till she Rides 'em down or Lame.

1709 London Gaz. No. 4580/1 The Czar was very active.., and rid down four Horses.

1723 J. Barker Patch-work Screen for Ladies Introd. sig. A2 ^v The Farmer..began to lament that his Horse was so ridden down, that he fear'd, he would not be able to carry him to Shrewsbury.

1846 K. Thomson Mem. Jacobites III. 278 He was frequently known, during the march from Carlisle to Derby, to ride down three horses a day when information of the enemy was to be procured.

1899 C. A. Evans Confederate Mil. Hist. xix. 194 During the day, Shelby rode down horse after horse, trying to bring some sort of order out of the chaos.

1921 in N. H. Thorp Songs of Cowboys (ed. 2) 167 'Til he rode down his horse and had to pull out.

1836 W. N. Glascock Naval Service I. 230 The custom of riding down the heads of sails is one which no practical seaman will ever sanction.

1841 R. H. Dana Seaman's Man. 120 To bend or bear down by main strength and weight; as, to ride down the main tack.

1867 W. H. Smyth & E. Belcher Sailor's Word-bk. Riding-down, the act of the men who throw their weight on the head of a sail to stretch it.

1907 A. T. Mahan From Sail to Steam vii. 161 The main-tack is the chief rope controlling the biggest sail in the ship, and at times..it has to be got down into place by the brute force of half a hundred men, inch by inch, pull by bull. That is called riding down.

1980 S. Hugill Shanties from Seven Seas Gloss. 595 Boys were detailed off to ‘ride down’ such sails.