Rifle | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Rī'fle, v. t.

verbtransitive

(rī'fl), v. t. [imp. & p. p. RIFLED; p. pr. & vb. n. RIFLING.] [O. Fr. rifler, rifler, to rifle, to sweep away, O. H. Ger. rifilion, to pluck, to saw, rifil, rifila, a sawing beak, N. H. Ger. riffeln, to pill flax, riffel, ripple, flax comb, O. D. ruffelen, to rub, Prov. Ger. rifen, to pluck.]

Sense 1. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.

Till time shall rifle every youthful grace. Pope.

Sense 2. To strip; to rob; to pillage; to plunder.

You have rifled my master. L'Estrange.

Sense 3. To raffle. [Obs.]

If you like not that course, but do intend to be rid of her, rifle her at a tavern. J. Webster.

Rī′fle, n.

noun

(rī′fl), n. [Dan. rifle, or riffel, the rifle of a gun, a chamfer, riffel, riffel-bösse, a rifle gun, rifle, to rifle a gun, Ger. riefelen, riefen, riffeln, rifen, to chamfer, groove.]

Sense 1. A gun usually somewhat shorter than a musket, the inside of whose barrel is grooved, or formed with spiral channels, thus securing for the ball a rotary motion, and great precision in the direction of aim.

Rifle.

Sense 2. A thin blade or strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes; also, a whetstone for a scythe. [U. S.]

Rifled cannon, or rifle cannon, a cannon of which the bore is rifled. — Rifled musket, a musket of which the bore is rifled.

A long rifle with a wooden stock and flintlock mechanism. — Rifle.

Rĭ'fle, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To groove; to channel; especially, to groove internally with spiral channels; as, to rifle a gun-barrel. 2. To sharpen, as a scythe, with a rifle; to whet with a rifle. See RIFLE, n., 2.