Definition

Noun: A person who travels by soliciting and obtaining free rides from passing vehicles, typically by standing at the roadside and signaling with an extended thumb.

Usage

The term describes a specific mode of travel. It is a neutral descriptor for the person engaging in the act of hitchhiking. - The kind truck driver picked up the hitchhiker near the interstate exit. - As a young hitchhiker, she traveled across the country with just a backpack.

Advanced Usage

• Cultural Reference: The concept of the hitchhiker is often romanticized in literature and film as a symbol of adventure, freedom, or sometimes danger.
  • The novel follows the journey of a lone hitchhiker searching for meaning.

Variants and Related Words

• Hitchhike (verb): To travel by asking for free rides from passing vehicles.
  • They decided to hitchhike to the next town.
• Hitchhiking (noun/gerund): The act or practice of traveling by getting free rides.
  • Hitchhiking was a common way to travel in the 1970s.

Synonyms

• Rider (in this specific context)
• Thumber (informal, based on the common hand signal used)

Related Phrases/Idioms

• To thumb a ride: An idiomatic phrase meaning to hitchhike.
  • He had to thumb a ride after his car broke down.

Noun

1. a person who travels by getting free rides from passing vehicles