# ride shotgun

> English word · Verb · IPA /ˌɹaɪd ˈʃɒtɡʌn/

## Definitions
1. 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.
2. To ride in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, next to the driver.
3. To supervise a process and watch for any risks.

## Etymology
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.

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/ride-shotgun