rides shotgun
Front seat passenger
To ride shotgun is to sit in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, beside the driver.
The expression comes from the Old West, where a guard armed with a shotgun sat next to the stagecoach driver for protection.
Today it's used casually, often in the context of claiming the seat: I called shotgun, so I get to ride up front.
The phrase can extend metaphorically to mean serving as someone's trusted companion or second-in-command on any venture.
- front seatForward vehicle seating
- car seatVehicle safety device for children
- passengerTraveler, not operator
- stagecoachHorse-drawn route vehicle
- wagon trainPioneers' covered convoy
Wild West · highwayman · Old West · copilot · guard · navigator · pioneer era · carpooler · bandit · seatmate · frontier · first choice · colloquialism · security detail · Wells Fargo · armed escort · travel etiquette · shared space
rides shotgundrives
Moves or compels
takes the wheel · chauffeurs · behind the wheel · in the driver's seat
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