hitch

To get married. Did you hear? Bill and David got hitched last week!

Rur. to have a permanent or temporary limp. Pappy's got quite a hitch in his gitalong since he broke his hip.

to attach someone or something to something. Please hitch the horse up to the wagon, and let's get going. Please hitch up the horse.

Prov. Always aspire to do great things.; Do not set pessimistic goals. (From Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Civilization.") The speaker who delivered the high school commencement address challenged the graduating students to hitch their wagons to a star. Bob: What do you want to be when you grow up? Child: I used to want to be a great actor, but my dad told me hardly anybody gets to be an actor, so now I have to pick something else. Bob: Nonsense. If you want to be an actor, then do your best to be an actor. Hitch your wagon to a star!

to get a ride from a passing motorist; to make a sign with one's thumb that indicates to passing drivers that one is asking for a ride. My car broke down on the highway, and I had to thumb a ride to get back to town. Sometimes it's dangerous to hitch a ride with a stranger.

Fig. with no problem(s). Everything went off without a hitch. We hoped the job would go off without a hitch.

to try to become successful by becoming involved with someone or something that is already successful or has a good chance of becoming successful He wisely decided to hitch his wagon to the environmentalist movement, which was then gaining support throughout the country. She hitched her wagon to a rising young star on the music scene.

Also, thumb a ride. Solicit a free ride, especially by hitchhiking. For example, I've no car; can I hitch a ride home with you? or He was hoping to thumb a ride to the stadium. The verb hitch here alludes to walking unevenly, presumably to hop into a car or truck; raising one's thumb is the traditional signal for stopping a car on the road. [First half of 1900s]

Aim high, as in Bill's hitching his wagon to a star-he plans to be a partner by age thirty. This metaphoric expression was invented by essayist Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1870.

Set high goals. The phrase come from an 1862 Ralph Waldo Emerson essay “American Civilization”: “Now that is the wisdom of a man, in every instance of his labor, to hitch his wagon to a star, and see his chore done by the gods themselves. That is the way we are strong, by borrowing the might of the elements. The forces of steam, gravity, galvanism, light, magnets, wind, fire, serve us day by day, and cost us nothing.” It used to be heard among other bit of avuncular or graduation speech advice. Then advice for the future became more specific, like “plastics” in the movie The Graduate. Nowadays, in this economy, your guess is as good as mine.