ride shotgun
idiom

- to ride in the front passenger seat of a car or truck

(American Heritage Dictionary)

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ORIGIN

The history of “riding shotgun” goes back to the days of covered wagons and stagecoaches in the American Wild West.

On a trip across the plains, the driver would hold the reins of his horse team and concentrate on driving. This left him and the occupants of the wagon or stagecoach vulnerable to attacks from bandits and Indians.

As a defensive measure, one person sat next to the driver with a shotgun ready to fend off the enemy. Amusingly, this idiom appears not to have been used during the Wild West period, but first in 1930s Hollywood movies.

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OTHER SHOTGUN PHRASES

shotgun-approach = In marketing, a strategy where a promotional campaign for products or services targets as large of an area or population as possible. In medicine, a diagnostic philosophy in which every conceivable parameter is measured, especially in a patient with an obscure disease.

shotgun shack = A house with no internal barrier between the front and back doors.

shotgun wedding = A wedding in which the bride is already pregnant.

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Practice OWAD in an English conversation, say something like:

“Jim, can you please ride shotgun? I’d like to send a few text messages from the back.”

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Thanks to Colin for suggesting today’s word.

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Paul Smith