14 definitions found

Rifle RI'FLE, v.t. [This is one of the family of rip, rive, reap, raffle, L. rapio. Eng. rub, etc.]
1. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away.
Till time shall rifle ev'ry youthful grace.
2. To strip; to rob; to pillage; to plunder.
You have rifled my master.
RI'FLE, n. [This word belongs to the family of rip, rive, L. rapio, etc. supra. The word means primarily a channel or groove.]
A gun about the usual length and size of a musket, the inside of whose barrel is rifled, that is, grooved, or formed with spiral channels.
RI'FLE, v.t. To groove; to channel.

rifle n 1: a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore; "he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired" v 1: steal goods; take as spoils; "During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners" [syn: plunder, despoil, loot, reave, strip, rifle, ransack, pillage, foray] 2: go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way; "Who rifled through my desk drawers?" [syn: rifle, go]

rifle - kafrila

rifle I. verb (rifled; rifling) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French rifler to scrape off, plunder, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German riffilōn to saw, obsolete Dutch rijffelen to scrape Date: 14th century transitive verb 1. to ransack especially with the intent to steal 2. to steal and carry away intransitive verb to engage in ransacking and stealing • rifler noun II. transitive verb (rifled; rifling) Etymology: perhaps from French rifler to scratch, file, from Middle French, to scrape, plunder Date: 1635 to cut spiral grooves into the bore of <rifled arms> <rifled pipe> III. noun Date: 1770 1. a. a shoulder weapon with a rifled bore b. a rifled artillery piece 2. plural soldiers armed with rifles IV. transitive verb (rifled; rifling) Etymology: ³rifle Date: 1937 to propel (as a ball) with great force or speed

rifle
1.
n. & v.
--n.
1 a gun with a long rifled barrel, esp. one fired from shoulder-level.
2 (in pl.) riflemen.
--v.tr. make spiral grooves in (a gun or its barrel or bore) to make a bullet spin.
Phrases and idioms:
rifle bird any dark green Australian bird of paradise of the genus Ptiloris. rifle-range a place for rifle-practice. rifle-shot
1 the distance coverable by a shot from a rifle.
2 a shot fired with a rifle.
Etymology: OF rifler graze, scratch f. Gmc
2.
v.tr. & (foll. by through) intr.
1 search and rob, esp. of all that can be found.
2 carry off as booty.
Etymology: ME f. OF rifler graze, scratch, plunder f. ODu. riffelen

rifle (rifles, rifling, rifled) 1. A rifle is a gun with a long barrel. They shot him at point blank range with an automatic rifle... N-COUNT 2. If you rifle through things or rifle them, you make a quick search among them in order to find something or steal something. I discovered my husband rifling through the filing cabinet... There were lockers by each seat and I quickly rifled the contents. VERB: V through n, V n

Rifle \Ri"fle\, v. t. 1. To grove; to channel; especially, to groove internally with spiral channels; as, to rifle a gun barrel or a cannon. 2. To whet with a rifle. See Rifle, n., 3.

Rifle \Ri"fle\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rifled; p. pr. & vb. n. Rifling.] [F. rifler to rifle, sweep away; of uncertain origin. CF. Raff.] 1. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off. Till time shall rifle every youthful grace. --Pope. 2. To strip; to rob; to pillage. --Piers Plowman. Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye: If not, we'll make you sit and rifle you. --Shak. 3. To raffle. [Obs.] --J. Webster.

Rifle \Ri"fle\, v. i. 1. To raffle. [Obs.] --Chapman. 2. To commit robbery. [R.] --Bp. Hall.

Rifle \Ri"fle\, n. [Akin to Dan. rifle, or riffel, the rifle of a gun, a chamfer (cf. riffel, riffelb["o]sse, a rifle gun, rifle to rifle a gun, G. riefeln, riefen, to chamfer, groove), and E. rive. See Rive, and cf. Riffle, Rivel.] 1. A gun, the inside of whose barrel is grooved with spiral channels, thus giving the ball a rotary motion and insuring greater accuracy of fire. As a military firearm it has superseded the musket. 2. pl. (Mil.) A body of soldiers armed with rifles. 3. A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes. Rifle pit (Mil.), a trench for sheltering sharpshooters.

Rifle, CO (city, FIPS 64255) Location: 39.53934 N, 107.77775 W Population (1990): 4636 (1984 housing units) Area: 10.0 sq km (land), 0.1 sq km (water) Zip code(s): 81650

rifle v. a. 1. Seize, snatch away, carry off. 2. Rob, pillage, plunder, strip, despoil, fleece.

rifle ˈraɪfl v. 1 rob, loot, ransack, plunder, despoil, burgle, pillage, US burglarize: We caught the man who had rifled the till. 2 search, ransack, go through, rummage through: She rifled through the files till the will was found.

136 Moby Thesaurus words for "rifle": Amazon, Zouave, air serviceman, automatic, bersagliere, blowgun, blowpipe, brave, burglarize, burgle, canal, canalize, cannon fodder, carabineer, carve, chamfer, channel, chasseur, chisel, comb, corrugate, crack, crimp, cut, dado, depredate, despoil, dike, ditch, dogface, doughfoot, engrave, expert rifleman, fighting man, firearm, flamethrower, fleece, flute, food for powder, foot soldier, footslogger, forage, foray, freeboot, furrow, fusileer, gash, gat, go through, goffer, gouge, grenadier, groove, grunt, gully, gun, gut, halberdier, handgun, heater, hoplite, incise, infantryman, knock off, knock over, legionary, light infantryman, look all over, look everywhere, loot, man-at-arms, maraud, marksman, military man, musket, musketeer, navy man, paddlefoot, peashooter, piece, pikeman, pillage, pistol, pleat, plow, plunder, prey on, rabbet, raid, rake, ransack, ravage, raven, ravish, reive, relieve, repeater, revolver, rifleman, rob, rod, rummage, rut, sack, sawed-off shotgun, score, scour, scratch, search, search high heaven, serviceman, shake, shake down, sharpshooter, shooting iron, shotgun, six-gun, six-shooter, slit, sniper, soldier, spearman, spoil, spoliate, stick up, streak, striate, sweep, toss, trench, trough, turn inside out, turn upside down, warrior, warrioress, wrinkle