RIFLE

Rifle

A rifle is a firearm designed to be fired from the shoulder, with a barrel that has a helical groove or pattern of grooves cut into the barrel walls. The raised areas of the rifling are called "lands," which make contact with the projectile, imparting spin around an axis corresponding to the orientation of the weapon. When the projectile leaves the barrel, this spin lends gyroscopic stability to the projectile and prevents tumbling, in the same way that a properly thrown American football or rugby ball behaves. This allows the use of aerodynamically-efficient pointed bullets and thus improves range and accuracy. The word "rifle" originally ...

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rifle

Noun

  1. A long firearm firing a single projectile, usually with a rifled barrel to improve accuracy.
  2. A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.

Verb

  1. to search with intent to steal; to ransack, pillage or plunder.
  2. To scan many items (especially papers) in a set, quickly. (See also riffle1)
    She made a mess when she rifled through the stack of papers, looking for the title document.
  3. To add a spiral to the interior of a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight to improve range and accuracy.
  4. To strike something with great power.
  5. To commit robbery.
  6. To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.
  7. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.
  8. To raffle.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: rifle
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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