ETYM French carbine, Old Fren. calabrin carabineer, from OF and Pr. calabre, Old Fren. cable, chable, an engine of war used in besieging, from Late Lat. chadabula, cabulus, a kind of projectile machine, from Greek, a throwing down; cata down + ballein to throw. Related to Parable.
Light automatic rifle.
1. A short-barreled lightweight firearm originally used by cavalry.
2. A light short-barreled repeating rifle that is used as a supplementary military arm or for hunting in dense brush.
ETYM Akin to Dan. rifle, or riffel, the rifle of a gun, a chamfer (cf. riffel, riffelbösse, a rifle gun, rifle to rifle a gun, German riefeln, riefen, to chamfer, groove), and Eng. rive. Related to Rive, Riffle, Rivel.
A shoulder weapon with a long barrel and a rifled bore.
Firearm that has spiral grooves (rifling) in its barrel. When a bullet is fired, the rifling makes it spin, thereby improving accuracy. Rifles were first introduced in the late 18th century.
Violent.