riding shotgun

Verb

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

1. (US, idiomatic) To accompany the driver of a vehicle on a journey as an armed escort (originally with a shotgun); (by extension) to accompany someone in order to assist and protect.
   • He attended the meeting to ride shotgun for the sales team, in case anyone had a technical question.
2. (US, broadly, idiomatic, slang) To ride in the front passenger seat of a vehicle, next to the driver.
   • When both kids want to ride shotgun with Mom, they’ll just have to take turns.
3. (US, broadly, idiomatic, slang) To supervise a process and watch for any risks.
   • He has ridden shotgun over Hunt's financial affairs since Hunt was a baby in business, ascending to the head chair on the board that governs the Chiefs and the Hunt Midwest Enterprises empire of mining and real estate development.1997, Michael McKenzie, chapter 1, in Arrowhead: Home of the Chiefs, Lenexa, Kan.: Addax Pub. Group, →ISBN, page 16