Adjacent Words

Rifle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

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.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

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]

Merriam Webster's

I. verb (rifled; rifling) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French rifler to scrape off, plunder, of Germanic origin; akin to Old High German riffil?n 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

Britannica Concise

Firearm whose barrel is rifled (i.e., has spiral grooves cut inside it to give a spin to the projectile). Though usually applied to a weapon fired from the shoulder, the name can also refer to a rifled cannon. Rifled firearms date to at least the 15th cent., when it was discovered that imparting a spin to the bullet improved its range and accuracy. The earliest muzzle-loading rifles were more difficult to load than smoothbore muskets, but the invention of metallic cartridges made possible the development of breech-loading mechanisms. Bolt-action rifles, which use a manually operated cylinder to drive the cartridge into the rifle's chamber, are the most common type for hunting. See also assault rifle.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(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

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

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

Moby Thesaurus

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