Joyriders

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A group of individuals who steal a vehicle and drive it recklessly for pleasure or thrill
2. those who take unauthorized joyrides in someone else's car, often disregarding safety and property rules
3. people engaging in the unlawful act of driving a stolen vehicle for enjoyment, often leading to dangerous situations

Etymology: The word "joyrider" is a plain compound of "joyride" and the agent suffix "-er", which turns a verb or noun into a person who does the thing. "Joy" traces back through Old French "joie" and Latin "gaudia" to the Latin verb "gaudere", "to rejoice", while "ride" is an Old English word, "rīdan", that has meant to travel on horseback or in a vehicle since at least the Middle English period. Put together, "joyride" once simply meant a pleasure trip, and the sense of taking someone else's car for a spin without permission developed later from that older, harmless meaning. The result is a word whose core ingredients are almost entirely innocent. "Joy" and "ride" are both among the oldest and most ordinary words in English, and the crime-related sense grew out of them rather than being built into the form itself. The suffix "-er" comes from Old English "-ere", which appears in many words for people who perform an action, so the plural "joyriders" simply names the people who take part in this kind of driving.

Synonyms: thrill-seekers, reckless drivers