hitchhike
/ˈhɪt͡ʃhaɪk/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.18 in modern English
24
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To try to get a ride in a passing vehicle while standing at the side of a road, generally by either sticking out one's finger or thumb or holding a sign with one's stated destination.
Intransitive verb
noun
A journey made by hitchhiking.
noun
Alternative form of hitchhiker (“advertisement at the end of a programme”).
Example Sentences
- "She made a great many photographs, and hitchhiked her way back to Lanchow again, and thence to Peking."
- "Holly came from Miami, F-L-A / Hitchhiked her way across the U.S.A."
- "Tens of thousands of people had come to Washington the night before. They hitchhiked. They hopped on trains. They came in caravans of buses, through the night."
- "Pamela hitchhiked a ride to New York."
- "“I’m not goin’ to tell you what happened to me,” Asey said, “from the time I found her till I finally managed to hitchhike a ride to town. I want to forget that period of my life. […]”"
- "In genetic hitchhiking, a gene is propagated because it occurs in conjunction with a favourable mutation."
Etymology
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- American usage
- Transitive verb