rifle
Part of speech: noun
verb
Morphological type: simple
Topics: engineering
government
military
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
politics
tools
war
weaponry
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.
Inflected forms:
form: rifles
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: rifles
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: rifling
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: rifled
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: rifled
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
In the June days of 1848 Baudelaire reports seeing revolutionaries (he might have been one of them) going through the streets of Paris with rifles, shooting all the clocks.
gloss: A rifleman.
pos: noun
tags: dated
plural-normally
gloss: An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.
pos: noun
gloss: A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
pos: noun
gloss: To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Near-synonym: riffle
She made a mess when she rifled through the stack of papers, looking for the title document.
gloss: To commit robbery or theft.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
gloss: To search with intent to steal.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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
gloss: To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye: / If not, we'll make you sit and rifle you.
Ben, in his long, lonely wanderings about the island, had found the skeleton — it was he that had rifled it; he had found the treasure; he had dug it up […]
gloss: To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Time shall rifle every youthful grace.
gloss: To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: 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.
2011 Fighting for Gold: The Story of Canada's Sledge Hockey Paralympic Gold by Lorna Schultz Schultz Nicholson
But a Norwegian player rifled off a point shot that sailed into the back of the net.
gloss: To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet).
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: The ball rifled off the bat.
gloss: To dispose of in a raffle.
pos: verb
tags: obsolete
transitive
examples: I've at one throw / Rifled away the diadem of Spain; […]
If you like not that course but intend to be rid of her , rifle her at a tavern , where you may swallow down some fifty wiseacres ' sons and heirs to old tenements and common gardens , like so many raw yolks with muscadine to bedward Kate.
gloss: To engage in a raffle.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
obsolete
examples: We'll strike up a drum, set up a tent, call people together, put crowns apiece, let's rifle for her
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
Translations: