Translate rifle | into French | into German | into Italian | into Spanish Definition of rifle
noun
a gun, especially one fired from shoulder level, having a long spirally grooved barrel intended to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance. (
rifles)
troops armed with rifles.
verb
1 [with object] (usually as adjective
rifled)
make spiral grooves in (a gun or its barrel or bore) to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance:a line of replacement rifled barrels
2 [with object] hit, throw, or kick (a ball or puck) hard and straight:he rifled a hard, rising shot from just inside the blue line[ 1940s: from rifle 'gun', suggestive of explosive speed; compare with the verb shoot]
