The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Ride \Ride\, v. i. [imp. Rode (r[=o]d) (Rid [r[i^]d],
   archaic); p. p. Ridden(Rid, archaic); p. pr. & vb. n.
   Riding.] [AS. r[imac]dan; akin to LG. riden, D. rijden, G.
   reiten, OHG. r[imac]tan, Icel. r[imac][eth]a, Sw. rida, Dan.
   ride; cf. L. raeda a carriage, which is from a Celtic word.
   Cf. Road.]
   1. To be carried on the back of an animal, as a horse.
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            To-morrow, when ye riden by the way.  --Chaucer.
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            Let your master ride on before, and do you gallop
            after him.                            --Swift.
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   2. To be borne in a carriage; as, to ride in a coach, in a
      car, and the like. See Synonym, below.
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            The richest inhabitants exhibited their wealth, not
            by riding in gilden carriages, but by walking the
            streets with trains of servants.      --Macaulay.
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   3. To be borne or in a fluid; to float; to lie.
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            Men once walked where ships at anchor ride.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   4. To be supported in motion; to rest.
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            Strong as the exletree
            On which heaven rides.                --Shak.
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            On whose foolish honesty
            My practices ride easy!               --Shak.
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   5. To manage a horse, as an equestrian.
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            He rode, he fenced, he moved with graceful ease.
                                                  --Dryden.
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   6. To support a rider, as a horse; to move under the saddle;
      as, a horse rides easy or hard, slow or fast.
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   To ride easy (Naut.), to lie at anchor without violent
      pitching or straining at the cables.

   To ride hard (Naut.), to pitch violently.

   To ride out.
      (a) To go upon a military expedition. [Obs.] --Chaucer.
      (b) To ride in the open air. [Colloq.]

   To ride to hounds, to ride behind, and near to, the hounds
      in hunting.
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   Syn: Drive.

   Usage: Ride, Drive. Ride originally meant (and is so used
          throughout the English Bible) to be carried on
          horseback or in a vehicle of any kind. At present in
          England, drive is the word applied in most cases to
          progress in a carriage; as, a drive around the park,
          etc.; while ride is appropriated to progress on a
          horse. Johnson seems to sanction this distinction by
          giving "to travel on horseback" as the leading sense
          of ride; though he adds "to travel in a vehicle" as a
          secondary sense. This latter use of the word still
          occurs to some extent; as, the queen rides to
          Parliament in her coach of state; to ride in an
          omnibus.
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                "Will you ride over or drive?" said Lord
                Willowby to his quest, after breakfast that
                morning.                          --W. Black.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Riding \Rid"ing\, a.
   1. Employed to travel; traveling; as, a riding clerk. "One
      riding apparitor." --Ayliffe.
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   2. Used for riding on; as, a riding horse.
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   3. Used for riding, or when riding; devoted to riding; as, a
      riding whip; a riding habit; a riding day.
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   Riding clerk.
      (a) A clerk who traveled for a commercial house. [Obs.
          Eng.]
      (b) One of the "six clerks" formerly attached to the
          English Court of Chancery.

   Riding hood.
      (a) A hood formerly worn by women when riding.
      (b) A kind of cloak with a hood.

   Riding master, an instructor in horsemanship.

   Riding rhyme (Pros.), the meter of five accents, with
      couplet rhyme; -- probably so called from the mounted
      pilgrims described in the Canterbury Tales. --Dr. Guest.

   Riding school, a school or place where the art of riding is
      taught.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Riding \Rid"ing\ (r[imac]d"[i^]ng), n. [For thriding, Icel.
   [thorn]ri[eth]jungr the third part, fr. [thorn]ri[eth]i
   third, akin to E. third. See Third.]
   One of the three jurisdictions into which the county of York,
   in England, is divided; -- formerly under the government of a
   reeve. They are called the North, the East, and the West,
   Riding. --Blackstone.
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Riding \Rid"ing\, n.
   1. The act or state of one who rides.
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   2. A festival procession. [Obs.]
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            When there any riding was in Cheap.   --Chaucer.
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   3. Same as Ride, n., 3. --Sir P. Sidney.
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   4. A district in charge of an excise officer. [Eng.]
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The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Trithing \Tri"thing\, n. [See Ist Riding.]
   One of three ancient divisions of a county in England; -- now
   called riding. [Written also riding.] --Blackstone.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

riding
    n 1: the sport of siting on the back of a horse while
         controlling its movements [syn: riding, horseback
         riding, equitation]
    2: travel by being carried on horseback [syn: riding,
       horseback riding]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

65 Moby Thesaurus words for "riding":
   Kreis, anchorage, archbishopric, archdiocese, arrondissement,
   automobiling, bailiwick, bicycling, biking, bishopric, borough,
   busing, canton, charivari, chuck, city, commune,
   congressional district, constablewick, county, cycling,
   departement, diocese, district, driving, duchy, electoral district,
   electorate, equitation, government, hamlet, harborage, haven,
   horseback riding, horsemanship, hundred, magistracy, metropolis,
   metropolitan area, motorcycling, motoring, oblast, okrug, parish,
   pedaling, port, precinct, principality, province, region, roads,
   roadstead, sheriffalty, sheriffwick, shire, shrievalty, soke,
   stake, state, territory, town, township, village, wapentake,
   ward



Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856):

RIDING, Eng. law. An ascertained district, part of a county. This term has
the same meaning in Yorkshire which division has in Lincolnshire. 4 T. R.
459.