Chapter Riches to Ridge of R by Webster's Dictionary (1913 Edition)

Rid
(Rid), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rid or Ridded; p. pr. & vb. n. Ridding.] [OE. ridden, redden, AS. hreddan to deliver, liberate; akin to D. & LG. redden, G. retten, Dan. redde, Sw. rädda, and perhaps to Skr. rath to loosen.]

1. To save; to rescue; to deliver; — with out of. [Obs.]

Deliver the poor and needy; rid them out of the hand of the wicked.

Ps. lxxxii. 4.

2. To free; to clear; to disencumber; — followed by of. "Rid all the sea of pirates." Shak.

In never ridded myself of an overmastering and brooding sense of some great calamity traveling toward me.

De Quincey.

3. To drive away; to remove by effort or violence; to make away with; to destroy. [Obs.]

I will red evil beasts out of the land.

Lev. xxvi. 6.

Death's men, you have rid this sweet young prince!

Shak.

4. To get over; to dispose of; to dispatch; to finish. [R.] "Willingness rids way." Shak.

Mirth will make us rid ground faster than if thieves were at our tails.

J. Webster.

To be rid of, to be free or delivered from. — To get rid of, to get deliverance from; to free one's self from.

Ridable
(Rid"a*ble) a. Suitable for riding; as, a ridable horse; a ridable road.

Riddance
(Rid"dance) n.

1. The act of ridding or freeing; deliverance; a cleaning up or out.

Thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field.

Lev. xxiii. 22.

2. The state of being rid or free; freedom; escape. "Riddance from all adversity." Hooker.

Ridden
(Rid"den) p. p. of Ride.

Ridder
(Rid"der) n. One who, or that which, rids.

Riddle
(Rid"dle) n. [OE. ridil, AS. hridder; akin to G. reiter, L. cribrum, and to Gr. to distinguish, separate, and G. rein clean. See Crisis, Certain.]

1. A sieve with coarse meshes, usually of wire, for separating coarser materials from finer, as chaff from grain, cinders from ashes, or gravel from sand.

2. A board having a row of pins, set zigzag, between which wire is drawn to straighten it.

Riddle
(Rid"dle), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Riddled ; p. pr. & vb. n. Riddling ]

1. To separate, as grain from the chaff, with a riddle; to pass through a riddle; as, riddle wheat; to riddle coal or gravel.

2. To perforate so as to make like a riddle; to make many holes in; as, a house riddled with shot.

Riddle
(Rid"dle), n. [For riddels, s being misunderstood as the plural ending; OE. ridels, redels. AS. rdels; akin to D. raadsel, G. räthsel; fr. AS. rdan to counsel or advise, also, to guess. &radic116. Cf.