English Explanatory Dictionary

rifle

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
  2. A rifleman.
  3. An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.
  4. A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
verb
  1. To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing).
  2. To commit robbery or theft.
  3. To search with intent to steal.
  4. To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
  5. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
  6. To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy.
  7. To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.
  8. To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet).
  9. To dispose of in a raffle.
  10. To engage in a raffle.

Pronunciation

/ˈɹaɪfəl/ en-us-rifle.ogg

Word forms

rifle rifles rifling rifled

Etymology

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.

Synonyms

riffle ransack pillage plunder loot

Derived words

air rifle assault rifle automatic rifle autorifle battle rifle benchrest rifle express rifle hog rifle Kentucky rifle long rifle Minié rifle Mississippi rifle Parrott rifle Pennsylvania rifle plasma rifle recoilless rifle riflebird rifle cartridge rifledom rifled slug rifle fish rifle green rifle grenade rifle is fine riflelike rifleman rifle pit rifleproof rifle range riflery riflescope rifleshot riflewoman rifling rook and rabbit rifle rook rifle sniper rifle Tennessee rifle
This entry uses open data from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA/GFDL). Word forms are used for search and are not indexed as separate pages.
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