What's the meaning of "ride secure"?

Question

port : a place where ships may ride secure from storms - Definition of port by Merriam-Webster.

I have two questions.

What's the meaning of "ride" and "secure" in this sentence?
"secure" is used as verb or adjective. Then in this sentence, form of "ride secure" is [verb] + [adjective/verb]. Isn't it wrong in grammar?

stangdon · Accepted Answer · 2017-02-11 14:37:35Z

2

You're parsing the sentence slightly incorrectly. It isn't one single phrase "ride secure", it's "ride / secure from storms".

Ride simply has its dictionary definition here:

3 a : to lie moored or anchored

Secure is an adjective, as you noted, which means "safe":

2 a : free from danger

So the correct way to parse the sentence is:

a place where ships may lie moored or anchored in a way that is safe from storms.

answered Feb 11, 2017 at 14:37

stangdon

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So "safe" is for "a place", NOT for "ride", right? So, 1. a place where ships may ride. 2. a place safe from storms. The sentence have these two meanings, right?
– Ting Choe
Commented Feb 11, 2017 at 14:47
Essentially, yes. It's "a place for ships to ride that is safe from storms".
– stangdon
Commented Feb 11, 2017 at 16:36

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