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American Dictionary of the English Language

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Rifle


RI'FLE, verb transitive [This is one of the family of rip, rive, reap, raffle, Latin rapio. Eng. rub, etc.]

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

Till time shall rifle ev'ry youthful grace.

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

You have rifled my master.

RI'FLE, noun [This word belongs to the family of rip, rive, Latin rapio, etc. supra. The word means primarily a channel or groove.]

A gun about the usual length and size of a musket, the inside of whose barrel is rifled, that is, grooved, or formed with spiral channels.

RI'FLE, verb transitive To groove; to channel.