free ride

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free ride (plural free rides)

1. (idiomatic) An opportunity or benefit which has no cost, especially one enjoyed or undertaken at the expense of others.
   • 1980 March 31, “The Shaky House of Cards”, in Time:

     Previously, shoppers were given a free ride on charges until the end of the month. Now interest will start on the day of purchase on accounts with balances.

   • 2006 April 9, “A Yankees Station in the Bronx”, in New York Times, retrieved 11 June 2009:

     Financially, the two New York teams have not asked for the sort of free ride at taxpayer expense that has been commonplace elsewhere.

2. (finance) The practice of buying and selling shares or other securities without actually having the capital to cover the trade.
3. (poker) A hand in which a player can remain without betting further money.

free ride (third-person singular simple present free rides, present participle free riding, simple past free rode, past participle free ridden)

1. To take a free ride; to take advantage of a benefit without contributing.
   • 1999, J. Samuel Barkin, George E. Shambaugh, Anarchy and the Environment, →ISBN:

     Finally, the level of excludahility of a CPR should affect the propensity to free ride.

   • 2000, André Blais, To Vote Or Not to Vote?: The Merits and Limits of Rational Choice Theory, →ISBN, pages 119–120:

     Less than half the participants chose to free ride in each of the first two experiments, but the great majority (77 percent) did in the last.

   • 2013, Kenneth Godwin, Scott H. Ainsworth, Erik Godwin, Lobbying and Policymaking, →ISBN:

     If an issue involves a purely private good such as a regulatory waiver or a tax loophole that would benefit only a single corporation, there is no opportunity to free ride.

2. (finance) To buy and sell shares or other securities without actually having the capital to cover the trade.

• free rider

• freeload

• “free ride”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.