Rifle

Webster's Dictionary of the English Language

·vi To commit robbery.

II. Rifle ·vi To Raffle.

III. Rifle ·vt To Raffle.

IV. Rifle ·noun A body of soldiers armed with rifles.

V. Rifle ·vt To whet with a rifle. ·see Rifle, ·noun, 3.

VI. Rifle ·vt To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.

VII. Rifle ·noun A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.

VIII. Rifle ·vt To Strip; to Rob; to Pillage.

IX. Rifle ·vt To Grove; to Channel; especially, to groove internally with spiral channels; as, to rifle a gun barrel or a cannon.

X. Rifle ·noun A gun, the inside of whose barrel is grooved with spiral channels, thus giving the ball a rotary motion and insuring greater accuracy of fire. As a military firearm it has superseded the musket.