riding

Meanings

Verb

• Present participle of ride

Noun

• A path cut through woodland.
• The act of one who rides; a mounted excursion.
• The behaviour in the motion of a vehicle, such as oscillation.
• A festival procession.
• Any of the three administrative divisions of Yorkshire and some other northern counties of England.
• Electoral district or constituency.

Origin

• From Middle English rydyng; equivalent to ride + -ing.
• From trithing (initial /t/ absorbed into preceding north, south, east, west, inner ‘th’ already sometimes /d/ in Middle English), from Middle English trithing, tridinge, from Old English *þriðing, from Old Norse þriðjungr ("third part"), from Proto-Germanic *þridjô ("third") (English third). Equivalent to [[third#English + third]]; compare with farthing. Cognate with English trithing.
• The folk etymology that connects the term to the area a horse-rider could cover in a single day is incorrect, but may have influenced the spelling and pronunciation.