Link Centre Dictionary

rifle

UK/ˈɹaɪfəl/ US/ˈraɪfʌl/ common
noun (1) verb (2)

noun

1.

a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore

  • “he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired”

verb

1.

steal goods; take as spoils

  • “During the earthquake people looted the stores that were deserted by their owners”
Synonyms
2.

go through in search of something; search through someone''s belongings in an unauthorized way

  • “Who rifled through my desk drawers?”
Synonyms

Origin

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.

Phrases

  • air rifle
  • assault rifle
  • automatic rifle
  • battle rifle
  • benchrest rifle
  • express rifle
  • hog rifle
  • Kentucky rifle

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.