The Collaborative International Dictionary
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. r["a]dda, and perhaps to Skr. ?rath to loosen.]
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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. -
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. -
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. -
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.
Usage examples of "to be rid of".
By the time we finally dropped anchor in Port Rumiantsev we was damn glad to be rid of him, I tell you.
When you wish to be rid of me, tell me to throw myself from the top—.
As much as she wanted the Ard Rhys out of the way, she was only slightly less anxious to be rid of him.
Children are reconciled to weeping parents who had hoped to be rid of them.
Is there none among us who might wish more than another to be rid of the Nasrany?
From now on he would want nothing more than to be rid of this case, since it would serve only to remind him of his wrong guess and the foolish way he'd acted when I'd first opened the door.
He cupped his hands and lit a cigarette, inhaled deeply, blew out the smoke as if in a hurry to be rid of it.