From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrifleri‧fle1 /ˈraɪfəl/ ●●○ noun [countable] PMWa long gun which you hold up to your shoulder to shoot → pistol
Examples from the Corpus
rifle• Fifteen-year-old Nicola Child was blasted with an air rifle in a cruel prank.• I fired one magazine of an M16 rifle.• There was an ornate rifle mounted on the wall behind him.• I reached for our rifles but they had been removed.• The rucksack and the rifle I had been carrying since yesterday evening seemed like a ton weight.• The guide picked up the rifle, shot and castrated him, and made off.• The Knutes smiled, their rifles in hand.• The world overflows with these rifles and their banana clips.riflerifle2 (also rifle through) verb [transitive] LOOK FORto search a place or container quickly because you are looking for something, especially something to steal Sally rifled through her wardrobe looking for a dress. The killer had rifled his wallet and stolen £200.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
rifle• Fisher rifled a pass to Dreher for an easy layup.• There is no evidence that the rifling and thievery of the files ever occurred.• Immigrants slump on their luggage, soldiers point rifles at Scorsese, and the horse urinates for the fourth time.• The robbers rifled the cash register and fled with $188 in cash.• The Lieutenant's servant rifled the dead man's possessions.• He rifled through a filing cabinet in search of the memo.• While you're away sipping sangria on a sun-soaked beach, some intruder may be rifling your unguarded home.Origin rifle1 (1700-1800) rifle “to cut grooves on the inside of something, especially a gun barrel” ((17-21 centuries)), from Old French rifler “to cut into a surface, steal” rifle2 (1300-1400) Old French rifler; → RIFLE1 