Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Synonyms

ride herd on

Idioms  

  1. Keep close watch or tight control over, as in Aunt Martha is always riding herd on her bridge club, making sure they follow the rules. This idiom alludes to the cowboy who rides around a herd of cattle to keep them together. [Late 1800s]

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

The idea was to ride herd on a financial industry that thought nothing of ripping off consumers.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2019

The Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services and the United Network for Organ Sharing already ride herd on organ procurement organizations.

From Washington Times • Jul. 15, 2019

Grissom hadn’t been able to ride herd on the Apollo spacecraft from its earliest manufacturing stages as he’d done with Gemini.

From Salon • Mar. 24, 2019

Lowey promised to ride herd on the administration to help get the Republicans the information they're demanding.

From US News • Apr. 13, 2016

"D'you think you can ride herd on it?"

From The Winds of Chance by Beach, Rex Ellingwood

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.