2. To strip; to rob; to pillage. Piers Plowman.
Stand, sir, and throw us that you have about ye:
If not, we'll make you sit and rifle you.
Shak. 3. To raffle. [Obs.] J. Webster.
Rifle
(Ri"fle), v. i.
1. To raffle. [Obs.] Chapman.
2. To commit robbery. [R.] Bp. Hall.
Rifle
(Ri"fle), n. [Akin to Dan. rifle, or riffel, the rifle of a gun, a chamfer (cf. riffel, riffelbösse, a rifle
gun, rifle to rifle a gun, G. riefeln, riefen, to chamfer, groove), and E. rive. See Rive, and cf. Riffle,
Rivel.]
1. 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 As a military firearm it has superseded the musket.
2. pl. (Mil.) A body of soldiers armed with rifles.
3. A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.
Rifle pit (Mil.), a trench for sheltering sharpshooters.
Rifle
(Ri"fle) v. t.
1. To grove; to channel; especially, to groove internally with spiral channels; as, to rifle a gun barrel or a
cannon.
2. To whet with a rifle. See Rifle, n., 3.
Riflebird
(Ri"fle*bird`) n. (Zoöl.) Any one of several species of beautiful birds of Australia and New Guinea,
of the genera Ptiloris and Craspidophora, allied to the paradise birds.
The largest and best known species is Ptiloris paradisea of Australia. Its general color is rich velvety
brown, glossed with lilac; the under parts are varied with rich olive green, and the head, throat, and two
middle tail feathers are brilliant metallic green.
Rifleman
(Ri"fle*man) n.; pl. Rifleman (Mil.) A soldier armed with a rifle.
Rifler
(Ri"fler) n. One who rifles; a robber.
Rifling
(Ri"fling) n. (a) The act or process of making the grooves in a rifled cannon or gun barrel. (b)
The system of grooves in a rifled gun barrel or cannon.
Shunt rifling, rifling for cannon, in which one side of the groove is made deeper than the other, to facilitate
loading with shot having projections which enter by the deeper part of the grooves.
Rift
(Rift) obs. p. p. of Rive. Spenser.
Rift
(Rift), n. [Written also reft.] [Dan. rift, fr. rieve to rend. See Rive.]
1. An opening made by riving or splitting; a cleft; a fissure. Spenser.
2. A shallow place in a stream; a ford.
