rifle

Etymology

Originally short for “rifled gun”, referring to the spiral grooves inside the barrel. From Middle English riflen (“to rob, plunder, search through”), from Old French rifler (“to lightly scratch, scrape off, plunder”), from Old High German riffilōn (compare German riffeln (“to score, make grooves in, ripple”), archaic Dutch rijfelen (“to scrape”), Old English rifelan, riflian (“to wrinkle”)), frequentative of Proto-Germanic *rīfaną (compare Old Norse rífa (“to tear, break”)). More at rive.

noun

1. (weaponry) A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.
   Still, a dozen men with rifles, and cartridges to match, stayed behind when they filed through a white aldea lying silent amid the cane, and the Sin Verguenza swung into slightly quicker stride. 1907, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict
   In the June days of 1848 Baudelaire reports seeing revolutionaries (he might have been one of them) going through the streets of Paris with rifles, shooting all the clocks. 1995, Richard Klein, “Introduction”, in Cigarettes are sublime, Paperback edition, Durham: Duke University Press, published 1993, →OCLC, page 8
2. (military, usually in the plural, dated) A rifleman.
3. (weaponry) An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.
4. A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.

verb

1. (intransitive) To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing). (See also riffle)
   She made a mess when she rifled through the stack of papers, looking for the title document.
2. (intransitive) To commit robbery or theft.
   Thither repair at accustomed times their harlots […] not with empty hands, for they be as skilful in picking, rifling, and filching as the upright men. 1566, Thomas Harman, A Caveat or Warning for Common Cursitors
3. (transitive) To search with intent to steal; to ransack, pillage or plunder.
   thine enemies […]shall ransack and rifle all the things of Edom; and shall search out all thy hidden commodities, and carry them away at once 1633, Joseph Hall, A paraphrase upon the hard texts of Scripture
4. (transitive) To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
5. (transitive) To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
6. (transitive) To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy.
7. (transitive) To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.
   Davies's cross was headed away from danger by Robert Huth, only for Baird to take the ball in his stride and rifle his right-footed effort towards the corner from the edge of the box. December 28, 2010, Marc Vesty, “Stoke 0 - 2 Fulham”, in BBC
   2011 Fighting for Gold: The Story of Canada's Sledge Hockey Paralympic Gold by Lorna Schultz Schultz Nicholson But a Norwegian player rifled off a point shot that sailed into the back of the net.
8. (intransitive) To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet).
   The ball rifled off the bat. 2014, Alexander Rebelle, Lights of Summer: The Run for Glory
9. (transitive, obsolete) To dispose of in a raffle.
   If you like not that course but intend to be rid of her , rifle her at a tavern , where you may swallow down some fifty wiseacres ' sons and heirs to old tenements and common gardens , like so many raw yolks with muscadine to bedward Kate. 1605, John Webster, Northward Ho
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To engage in a raffle.
    We'll strike up a drum, set up a tent, call people together, put crowns apiece, let's rifle for her 1596, George Chapman, The Blind Beggar of Alexandria