Adjacent Words

riffle definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a small wave on the surface of a liquid [syn: ripple, rippling, riffle, wavelet]
2: shuffling by splitting the pack and interweaving the two halves at their corners v
1: twitch or flutter; "the paper flicked" [syn: flick, ruffle, riffle]
2: look through a book or other written material; "He thumbed through the report"; "She leafed through the volume" [syn: flick, flip, thumb, riffle, leaf, riff]
3: stir up (water) so as to form ripples [syn: ripple, ruffle, riffle, cockle, undulate]
4: shuffle (playing cards) by separating the deck into two parts and riffling with the thumbs so the cards intermix

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (riffled; riffling) Etymology: ²riffle Date: 1754 intransitive verb 1. to form, flow over, or move in riffles 2. to flip cursorily ; thumb <riffle through the catalog> transitive verb 1. to ruffle slightly ; ripple 2. a. to leaf through hastily; specifically to leaf (as a stack of paper) by sliding a thumb along the edge of the leaves b. to shuffle (playing cards) by separating the deck into two parts and riffling with the thumbs so the cards intermix 3. to manipulate (small objects) idly between the fingers II. noun Etymology: perhaps alteration of ruffle Date: 1785 1. a. a shallow extending across a streambed and causing broken water b. a stretch of water flowing over a riffle 2. a small wave or succession of small waves ; ripple 3. a. any of various contrivances (as blocks or rails) laid on the bottom of a sluice or launder to make a series of grooves or interstices to catch and retain a mineral (as gold) b. a groove or interstice so formed 4. a cleat or bar fastened to an inclined surface in a gold-washing apparatus to catch and hold mineral grains 5. [riffle (I)] a. the act or process of shuffling (as cards) b. the sound made while doing this

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. a turn (pages) in quick succession. b shuffle (playing-cards) esp. by flexing and combining the two halves of a pack. 2 intr. (often foll. by through) leaf quickly (through pages). --n. 1 the act or an instance of riffling. 2 (in gold-washing) a groove or slat set in a trough or sluice to catch gold particles. 3 US a a shallow part of a stream where the water flows brokenly. b a patch of waves or ripples on water. Etymology: perh. var. of RUFFLE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Riffle Rif"fle, n. [CF. G. riffeln, riefeln, to groove. Cf. Rifle a gun.] (Mining) A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed; also, one of the cleats, grooves, or steps in such a trough. Also called ripple.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Riffle Rif"fle, n. [Cf. Riffle a trough.] A ripple in a stream or current of water; also, a place where the water ripples, as on a shallow rapid. [Local, U. S.] The bass have left the cool depth beside the rock and are on the riffle or just below it. --James A. Henshall.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(riffles, riffling, riffled) If you riffle through the pages of a book or riffle them, you turn them over quickly, without reading everything that is on them. I riffled through the pages until I reached the index. = flick VERB: V through n, also V n

Moby Thesaurus

ball up, billow, bollix up, bore, breakers, chop, choppiness, chopping sea, chute, cockle, comb, comber, confound, confuse, dimple, dirty water, eagre, foul up, fret, fumble, garble, gravity wave, ground swell, heave, heavy sea, heavy swell, jumble, lift, lop, mix up, muck up, muddle, peak, pi, play hob with, popple, rapid, rapids, riff, ripple, rise, roll, roller, rough water, sault, scend, scramble, screw up, sea, send, shoot, shuffle, snafu, snarl up, surf, surge, swell, tidal bore, tidal wave, tide wave, trough, tsunami, tumble, undulation, water wave, wave, wavelet, white horses, whitecaps