hitchhike

verb hitch·hike \ ˈhich-ˌhīk \

Updated on: 11 Apr 2018

Definition of hitchhike

intransitive verb

1 : to travel by securing free rides from passing vehicles

2 : to be carried or transported by chance or unintentionally

destructive insects hitchhiking on ships

transitive verb

: to solicit and obtain (a free ride) especially in a passing vehicle

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hitchhiker

noun

See hitchhike defined for English-language learners

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Examples of hitchhike in a Sentence

Her car broke down, so she had to hitchhike back home.
He hitchhiked his way across the country last summer.

Recent Examples of hitchhike from the Web

McCoy was arrested in Idaho after hitchhiking rides from truckers.

— robert barnes, Washington Post, "Supreme Court critical of lawyer’s decision to concede guilt of client who claimed innocence," 17 Jan. 2018
As an undergrad at Harvard, McCargar had started out majoring in physics and astronomy, but while hitchhiking across the country one summer he’d got caught up in the environmental movement and switched to biology.

— naomi fry, The New Yorker, "Scott Pruitt’s Dirty Politics," 3 Apr. 2017
Martin skied to the road and hitchhiked to the ski area for help.

— christopher solomon, Outside Online, "The Boy Who Lived on Edges," 22 Mar. 2018
Philly is the city where that hitchhiking robot, which counted on the collective humanity of strangers to reach destination after destination, was beheaded a few years ago.

— alex delany, Bon Appetit, "I Ate at 16 of the Best Philly Cheesesteak Spots in 12 Hours," 3 Jan. 2018
According to industry sources, Roscosmos was unlikely to agree for its cosmonauts to hitchhike to the station aboard the Chinese Shenzhou vehicles, as China proposed, without having full access to the station with its own passenger spacecraft.

— anatoly zak, Popular Mechanics, "Russia's Space Agency Might Break Up With the U.S. To Get With China," 7 Mar. 2018
According to 7 News Adelaide, the three-year-old terrier traveled all the way from Goondiwindi in Queensland to Snowtown in South Australia, hitchhiking across the country by stowing away in the back of a truck on the highway.

— cady lang, Time, "Plucky Dog Hitchhikes 900 Miles After Its Family Left for Vacation," 17 Jan. 2018
The European Space Agency’s Huygens lander — which hitchhiked all the way to Saturn aboard Cassini — still rests on Titan.

— Washington Post, "NASA’s Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft faces fiery finish," 12 Sep. 2017
Boats that pass through it would be shot with water jets to remove small and stunned fish that might hitchhike on boat bottoms.

— laura johnston, cleveland.com, "U.S. Congress members urge action to keep Asian carp out of Great Lakes," 8 Dec. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'hitchhike.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.