Idiom
ride on a rail
Meaning
To be subjected to a punishment most prevalent in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries in which an offender was made to straddle a fence rail held on the shoulders of two or more bearers. The victim was then paraded around town or taken to the city limits and dumped by the roadside.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“The town decided to ride the thief on a rail out of the village.”
“Angry neighbors threaten to ride the dishonest merchant on a rail.”
“You ride on a rail when the community wants you gone forever.”
“After the crowd caught the swindler, they decided to ride him on a rail to the edge of town as punishment.”
“The local history museum features an old wooden beam that was once used to ride criminals on a rail during the colonial era.”
“In many old Western stories, the townspeople gather together to ride a corrupt sheriff on a rail for his crimes.”
“Historians explain that to ride on a rail was a painful way to humiliate someone before forcing them to leave their home.”
“In a display of frontier justice, the angry mob forced the disgraced official to ride on a rail until he was deposited beyond the town limits.”
Examples
simple
“The town decided to ride the thief on a rail out of the village.”
“Angry neighbors threaten to ride the dishonest merchant on a rail.”
“You ride on a rail when the community wants you gone forever.”
contextual
“After the crowd caught the swindler, they decided to ride him on a rail to the edge of town as punishment.”
“The local history museum features an old wooden beam that was once used to ride criminals on a rail during the colonial era.”
“In many old Western stories, the townspeople gather together to ride a corrupt sheriff on a rail for his crimes.”
“Historians explain that to ride on a rail was a painful way to humiliate someone before forcing them to leave their home.”
complex
“In a display of frontier justice, the angry mob forced the disgraced official to ride on a rail until he was deposited beyond the town limits.”
Key words
Related idioms
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