rifle
noun
[ ˈrʌɪf(ə)l ]
• a gun, especially one fired from shoulder level, having a long spirally grooved barrel intended to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance.
• "a hunting rifle"
rifle
verb
• make spiral grooves in (a gun or its barrel or bore) to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance.
• "there are four basic ways to rifle a gun barrel"
• hit or kick (a ball) hard and straight.
• "Ferguson rifled home his fourth goal of the season"
Origin:
mid 17th century: from French rifler ‘graze, scratch’, of Germanic origin. The earliest noun usage was in rifle gun, which had ‘rifles’ or spiral grooves cut into the inside of the barrel.
rifle
verb
• search through something in a hurried way in order to find or steal something.
• "she rifled through the cassette tapes"
Similar:
rummage,
search,
hunt,
forage,
sift,
rake,
ransack,
comb,
turn upside down,
scour,
Origin:
Middle English: from Old French rifler ‘graze, plunder’, of Germanic origin.
