to take for a ride
Preserved but no longer current.
Originally this meant to pull someone's leg or make him the butt of a joke, but it has become a gangster euphemism for murder. The victim is induced or forced to enter a car with one or more companions who, in the course of the ride, murder him. Under the Nazi regime in Germany high officials, generals, etc. (e.g.
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 take for a ride” mean?
Originally this meant to pull someone's leg or make him the butt of a joke, but it has become a gangster euphemism for murder. The victim is induced or forced to enter a car with one or more companions who, in the course of the ride, murder him. Under the Nazi regime in Germany high officials, generals, etc. (e.g.
Is “to take for a ride” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.