RIFLE

To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off. Till time shall rifle every youthful grace. Pope.

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.

To raffle. [Obs.] J. Webster.

To raffle. [Obs.] Chapman.

To commit robbery. [R.] Bp. Hall.

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 As a military firearm it has superseded the musket.

A body of soldiers armed with rifles.

A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes. Rifle pit (Mil.), a trench for sheltering sharpshooters.

To grove; to channel; especially, to groove internally with spiral channels; as, to rifle a gun barrel or a cannon.

To whet with a rifle. See Rifle, n., 3.