rifle

English

Wikipedia

a rifle (Mauser K98)

Etymology

Middle English, from Old French rifler (“to scrape off, plunder”), from Old Low Franconian *riffilōn (compare obsolete Dutch rijffelen 'to scrape', Old English geriflian (“to wrinkle”), Middle High German riffeln (“to scratch, heckle (flax)”), Old High German riffilōn (“to saw, rub apart”)), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *rīfaną (compare Old Norse rifa (“to tear, break”)). More at rive.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈraɪfəl/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

rifle (plural rifles)

1. A long firearm firing a single projectile, usually with a rifled barrel to improve accuracy.
   • 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, The Dust of Conflict^[1]:

     Still, a dozen men with rifles, and cartridges to match, stayed behind when they filed through a white aldea lying silent amid the cane, and the Sin Verguenza swung into slightly quicker stride.

2. A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.

Translations

firearm with a rifled barrel

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can
• Albanian: pushkë f
• Arabic: بندقية f (bunduqíya)
• Asturian: fusil m, rifle m
• Avar: please add this translation if you can
• Azeri: tüfəng (az)
• Bashkir: мылтыҡ (mïltïq)
• Belarusian: вінтоўка f (vintóŭka), ружжо n (ružžó)
• Breton: fuzuilh (br) f, karabinenn f
• Bulgarian: пушка (bg) f (púška)
• Catalan: fusell m, rifle m
• Chechen: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 步槍, 步枪 (zh) (bùqiāng), 來福槍 (zh), 来福枪 (láifúqiāng), 來復槍 (zh), 来复枪 (láifùqiāng)

• Czech: puška (cs) f, ručnice f
• Danish: riffel (da) c
• Dutch: geweer (nl) n, karabijn (nl) f
• Esperanto: fusilo
• Estonian: vintpüss (et)
• Finnish: kivääri (fi)
• French: fusil (fr) m
• Galician: fusil m, rifle
• Georgian: შაშხანა (šašxana)
• German: Gewehr (de) n
• Greek: τυφέκιον (el) n (tyfékion), (colloquial) τουφέκι (el) n (touféki)
• Hebrew: רובה (he) m (rové)
• Hindi: राइफल (rā'iphal), राइफ़ल (rā'ifal)
• Hungarian: puska (hu), karabély (hu)
• Icelandic: riffill (is) m
• Ido: fusilo (io)
• Indonesian: senapan (id)
• Ingush: please add this translation if you can
• Irish: raidhfil m
• Italian: fucile (it) m
• Japanese: 小銃 (ja) (しょうじゅう, shōjū), ライフル (raifuru), ライフル銃 (raifuru-jū)
• Khmer: កាំភ្លើងវែង (kampləəŋ vɛɛŋ)
• Korean: 소총 (ko) (sochong) (小銃 (ko)), 라이플 (raipeul), 라이플 총 (raipeul chong)

• Kurdish:

  Sorani: تفه‌نگ (tfang)

• Latin: sclopetum (la)
• Latvian: šautene (lv) f
• Laz: please add this translation if you can
• Lithuanian: šautuvas
• Macedonian: пушка f (púška)
• Malay: raifal
• Manx: raifyl m
• Maori: raiwhara, pū raiwhara
• Mingrelian: please add this translation if you can
• Mongolian: please add this translation if you can
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: rifle m, f

  Nynorsk: rifle f

• Persian: تفنگ (fa) (tofang)
• Polish: karabin (pl) m, gwintówka f
• Portuguese: fuzil (pt) m, espingarda (pt) f, rifle (pt) m, refle m
• Romanian: flintă (ro) f, pușcă (ro) f ghintuită f
• Russian: ружьё (ru) n (ruž’jó), винтовка (ru) f (vintóvka), (carbine) карабин (ru) m (karabín)
• Scottish Gaelic: gunna-peilear m, isneach f
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пушка f

  Roman: puška f

• Sinhalese: please add this translation if you can
• Slovak: puška f, karabína f
• Slovene: puška (sl) f
• Spanish: fusil (es) m, rifle (es) m
• Sundanese: bedil (su)
• Swedish: gevär (sv) n
• Thai: ปืนเล็กยาว (bpeun lék yaao)
• Turkish: tüfek (tr)
• Tuvan: ланчыы (lančyy)
• Ukrainian: гвинтівка f (hvyntívka), (colloquial) рушниця f (rušnýcja)
• Urdu: رائفل (rā'ifal)
• Vietnamese: súng trường (vi)
• Vilamovian: gywjēr n

Derived terms

• automatic rifle
• rifled slug
• rifling

Verb

rifle (third-person singular simple present rifles, present participle rifling, simple past and past participle rifled)

1. to search with intent to steal; to ransack, pillage or plunder.
2. To scan many items (especially papers) in a set, quickly. (See also riffle^[2])

   She made a mess when she rifled through the stack of papers, looking for the title document.

3. To add a spiral to the interior of a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight to improve range and accuracy.
4. To strike something with great power.
   • 2010 December 28, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, BBC:

     Davies's cross was headed away from danger by Robert Huth, only for Baird to take the ball in his stride and rifle his right-footed effort towards the corner from the edge of the box.

5. (intransitive) To commit robbery.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Bishop Hall to this entry?)

6. (transitive) To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
   • Shakespeare

     Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye: / If not, we'll make you sit and rifle you.

7. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
   • Alexander Pope

     Time shall rifle every youthful grace.

8. To raffle.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of J. Webster to this entry?)

Translations

to search through

• Abkhaz: please add this translation if you can

• Maori: paraketu

Anagrams

• filer, flier, lifer

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French

Etymology

From American English rifle (19th century).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʁifl/

Noun

rifle m (plural rifles)

1. rifle (carabine)

Related terms

• .22 Long Rifle

Verb

rifle

1. first-person singular present indicative of rifler
2. third-person singular present indicative of rifler
3. first-person singular present subjunctive of rifler
4. third-person singular present subjunctive of rifler
5. second-person singular imperative of rifler

Anagrams

• filer

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Portuguese

Etymology

From English rifle, from Middle English, from Old French rifler (“to scrape off, plunder”), from Old Low Franconian *rifillon, frequentative of Proto-Germanic *rīfaną.

Pronunciation

• (South Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈhi.fle/

Noun

rifle m (plural rifles)

1. rifle

Synonyms

• fuzil, refle, espingarda, escopeta

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Spanish

Noun

rifle m (plural rifles)

1. rifle

Synonyms

• fusil
• escopeta