riding shotgun
Beside the driver
Riding shotgun is sitting in the front passenger seat of a vehicle.
The phrase comes from the armed guard who sat beside stagecoach drivers in the American West.
Today it's casual and often playful: I call shotgun! claims the seat before others can.
By extension, riding shotgun can mean accompanying someone as backup or support.
- seatbeltVehicle passenger restraint
- front seatForward vehicle seating
- bucket seatContoured single-occupant car chair
- passengerTraveler, not operator
- viewWhat's seen from somewhere
stagecoach · Wild West · wagon train · radio · posse · co-pilot · ride · guarding · Wells Fargo · armed guard · mirror · car · navigator · side by side · frontier · outlaw · lookout · up front
riding shotgunbackseat
Vehicle's rearward passenger area
back row · middle seat · third row · trunk · cargo area
riding shotgundriving
Controlling a vehicle
behind the wheel · at the wheel · in the driver's seat · piloting · steering
riding, ridden, riders, rides, shotgun, shotguns, gunned, gunning, gunner