noun
rifle
REYE-fuhl
noun
1
A long-barrelled firearm fired from the shoulder, with spiral grooves inside the barrel for accuracy.
"The hunter cleaned his rifle before heading out at dawn."
verb
1
To search through something quickly and often carelessly, typically to steal something.
"Someone had rifled through her desk drawers while she was out."
"The burglars rifled the safe and left within minutes."
How to Use Rifle
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishEither a long-barrelled gun, or the act of quickly (and often illicitly) searching through something.
Common pairings
rifle through a drawer
hunting rifle
assault rifle
Word Forms
rifled past tense, rifles plural, rifles singular
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Etymology
Originally short for "rifled gun", from Old French rifler (\"to scratch, scrape, plunder\").