to ride bodkin
Preserved but no longer current.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “to ride bodkin” mean?
To ride in a carriage be- tween two others, the accommodation being only for two. There is no ground for the suggestion that bodkin in this sense is a contrac- tion of body kin, a little body. The allusion to something so slender that it can be squeezed in anywhere is obvious.
Is “to ride bodkin” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.