hitch a lift

hitch a lift

1. To hitchhike. (Done by putting one's hitch in the air in order to signal passing cars that one is looking for a ride.) I spent the summer hitching lifts along the west coast. We didn't have any money for a taxi, so we had to hitch a life home.
2. To be driven to a location in someone else's car. A: "Do you need me to drive you to the movie?" B: "No, I'm hitching a lift with Janet."
See also: hitch, lift
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

thumb/hitch a ˈlift

stand by the side of the road with your thumb out because you want a driver to stop and take you somewhere: We tried to hitch a lift, but nobody stopped to pick us up.
See also: hitch, lift, thumb
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • thumb/hitch a lift
  • hitch a ride
  • thumb a lift
  • thumb a ride
  • hail a taxi
  • left coast
  • have a hitch in gitalong
  • walk across
  • walk across (something or some place)
  • hitch (one's) wagon to (someone or something)
References in periodicals archive
"This time it looks as if he managed to hitch a lift with a friend who had stayed over, somehow sneaking inside his van.
Shortie, up for Best UK Newcomer with Alexandra Burke, Jade Ewen and JLS, had to hitch a lift with cops after he was stranded in Edinburgh after a party.
He just loves to go walkies - especially if he can hitch a lift on Daisy the Shetland pony.
"Every day we would walk for miles trying to hitch a lift, but no one would stop.
One theory being looked at by the police is that the man, who was in his 40s,may have been trying to hitch a lift, after his own car broke down.
Police were yesterday waiting to question a man about the abduction of a ten-year-old boy who was found trying to hitch a lift 70 miles from his home.
The OAP student's marathon trek to art college means getting up at 4am, then waiting by the road side with her thumb out, hoping to hitch a lift. But the route is so quiet, she often has to walk 14 miles to Forres, in Moray, then take a bus 12 miles to Moray College in Elgin.
Nash said that he stole the tractor from a farm lane in Trowbridge, Wilts, when he was unable to hitch a lift home.
But emergency services say the men, both in their 20s, may have thought they were on the hard shoulder and were trying to hitch a lift when they were hit by a Volkswagen car.
YOU'D think that with all his millions George Clooney could afford a chauffeur but we caught the actor trying to hitch a lift from his OWN premiere.
David and Lesley Dunleavy were forced to hitch a lift home.
Her sister Kate said: "The only thing we can think of is that she was unable to get home and may have decided to hitch a lift."
Jo Jo went off to hitch a lift, and the witness went drinking with two men she had just met.