Verb
ride on a rail (third-person singular simple present rides on a rail, present participle riding on a rail, simple past rode on a rail, past participle ridden on a rail)
(idiomatic, historical) To be subjected to a punishment most prevalent in the United States in the 18th and 19th centuries in which an offender was made to straddle a fence rail held on the shoulders of two or more bearers. The victim was then paraded around town or taken to the city limits and dumped by the roadside.