| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| rifle2 |
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| SYLLABICATION: | ri·fle |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  r  f l |
| VERB: | Inflected forms: ri·fled, ri·fling, ri·fles
| | TRANSITIVE VERB: | 1. To search with intent to steal. 2. To ransack or plunder; pillage. 3. To rob: rifle a safe. | | INTRANSITIVE VERB: | To search vigorously: rifling through my drawers to find matching socks. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English riflen, to plunder, from Old French rifler, probably of Germanic origin. | | OTHER FORMS: | rifler —NOUN
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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