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Rifle

//ˈɹaɪfəl// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.

    "Still, a dozen men with rifles, and cartridges to match, stayed behind when they filed through a white aldea lying silent amid the cane, and the Sin Verguenza swung into slightly quicker stride."

  2. 2
    a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore wordnet
  3. 3
    A rifleman. dated, plural-normally
  4. 4
    An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.
  5. 5
    A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
Verb
  1. 1
    To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing). intransitive

    "Near-synonym: riffle"

  2. 2
    go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way wordnet
  3. 3
    To commit robbery or theft. intransitive

    "Thither repair at accustomed times their harlots […] not with empty hands, for they be as skilful in picking, rifling, and filching as the upright men."

  4. 4
    steal goods; take as spoils wordnet
  5. 5
    To search with intent to steal. transitive

    "thine enemies […]shall ransack and rifle all the things of Edom; and shall search out all thy hidden commodities, and carry them away at once"

Show 7 more definitions
  1. 6
    To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage. transitive

    "Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye: / If not, we'll make you sit and rifle you."

  2. 7
    To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off. transitive

    "Time shall rifle every youthful grace."

  3. 8
    To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy. transitive
  4. 9
    To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory. transitive

    "Davies's cross was headed away from danger by Robert Huth, only for Baird to take the ball in his stride and rifle his right-footed effort towards the corner from the edge of the box."

  5. 10
    To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet). intransitive

    "The ball rifled off the bat."

  6. 11
    To dispose of in a raffle. obsolete, transitive

    "I've at one throw / Rifled away the diadem of Spain; […]"

  7. 12
    To engage in a raffle. intransitive, obsolete

    "We'll strike up a drum, set up a tent, call people together, put crowns apiece, let's rifle for her"

Etymology

Etymology 1

Originally short for “rifled gun”, referring to the spiral grooves inside the barrel. From Middle English riflen (“to rob, plunder, search through”), from Old French rifler (“to lightly scratch, scrape off, plunder”), from Old High German riffilōn (compare German riffeln (“to score, make grooves in, ripple”), archaic Dutch rijfelen (“to scrape”), Old English rifelan, riflian (“to wrinkle”)), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *rīfaną (compare Old Norse rífa (“to tear, break”)). More at rive.

Etymology 2

Originally short for “rifled gun”, referring to the spiral grooves inside the barrel. From Middle English riflen (“to rob, plunder, search through”), from Old French rifler (“to lightly scratch, scrape off, plunder”), from Old High German riffilōn (compare German riffeln (“to score, make grooves in, ripple”), archaic Dutch rijfelen (“to scrape”), Old English rifelan, riflian (“to wrinkle”)), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *rīfaną (compare Old Norse rífa (“to tear, break”)). More at rive.

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