Rifle
Rifle , transitive verb
[French 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.
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.
3.
To raffle. [Obsolete] — J. Webster
Rifle , intransitive verb
1.
To raffle. [Obsolete] — Chapman
2.
To commit robbery. [Rare] — Bp. Hall
Rifle , noun
[Akin to Danish rifle, or riffel, the rifle of a gun, a chamfer (compare riffel, riffelbosse, a rifle gun, rifle to rifle a gun, German riefeln, riefen, to chamfer, groove), and English rive. See Rive, and compare 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 As a military firearm it has superseded the musket.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.
(Military) A body of soldiers armed with rifles.
3.
A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
Collocations (1)
Rifle pit (Military) , a trench for sheltering sharpshooters.
Rifle , transitive verb
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.