night rider
After-dark terrorizer
A night rider is someone who rides or travels at night, often with sinister or secretive purpose.
Historically, the term referred to members of violent vigilante groups in the American South who terrorized Black citizens and their allies under cover of darkness, particularly during Reconstruction and the early 20th century.
The term can also apply more neutrally to anyone who prefers traveling or working at night.
The night riders burned crosses to intimidate voters.
- horsemanSkilled equine rider
- moonNatural planetary satellite
- full moonCompletely lit satellite phase
- darknessTotal absence of light
- motorcyclistOne who rides two-wheeled vehicles
open road · Ku Klux Klan · hooded figure · vigilante · attacker · shadow · marauder · engine · moonlight · leather · clandestine · outlaw · terror · headlights · aggressor · saddle · assailant · reins
- vigilantismvigilante, vigilantism, lynch mob, lynching, mob justice
- cattle drivecattle drive, Chisholm Trail, chuck wagon, cowboy, drover
- insurgentsinsurgent, guerrillas, guerrilla, rebel, resistance fighters
- vigilantesBatman, Punisher, Robin Hood, Zorro, avenger