rifle

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The immensely powerful weapon had driven the bullet straight through the centre of a palm log, through the body of the dacoit behind, and wounded one of the party following up Jim whipped open the breech, and the empty shell flew out, for the rifle was an ejector.

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Definitions (67)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (8)

  1. noun A firearm with a rifled bore, designed to be fired from the shoulder.
  2. noun An artillery piece or naval gun with such spiral grooves.
  3. noun Troops armed with rifles.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (52)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (4)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (3)

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Words tagged rifle

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This word has been looked up 94 times.

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Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. From rifle, to cut spiral grooves in, from French rifler, from Old French, to plunder, scratch; see rifle2.
  2. Middle English riflen, to plunder, from Old French rifler, probably of Germanic origin.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. from Middle English riflen, from Old French rifler, rifle, ransack, spoil; with freq. suffix, from Icelandic hrīfa, rīfa, grapple, seize, pull up, scratch, grasp, akin to hrifsa, rob, pillage, hrifs, plunder.
  2. from Danish rifle, rifle, groove (riflede söiler, fluted columns; cf. rifle, a groove, flute), = Swedish reffla, rifle (reffelbössa, a rifled gun), from rive (for *rife), tear, = Swedish rifva, scratch, tear, grate, grind, = Icelandic rīfa, rive: see rive, and cf. rivel. Cf. German riefe, a furrow (from Low German), riefen, rifle; and see riffle.
  3. Short for rifled gun: see rifle, v. Cf. Swedish reffelbössa, a rifled gunnery The Danish riffel, Swedish rifle, a rifle, are from English
  4. Origin uncertain.
 

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/ˈraɪfl/
by American Heritage

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