riffle
See also: Riffle
English
editPronunciation
edit- IPA(key): /ˈɹɪfəl/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Rhymes: -ɪfəl
Etymology 1
editPossible alteration of ruffle, from Middle English ruffelen, akin to Low German ruffelen (“to crumple”).
Noun
editriffle (plural riffles)
- A swift, shallow part of a stream causing broken water.
- 1903, James Alexander Henshall, Bass, Pike, Perch and other Game Fishes of America:
- They then proceeded below the milldam, where there was a strong riffle, with likely looking pools and eddies
- 2017, Bill Barich, “On the Glories of Autumn”, in California Fly Fisher:
- The big trout feed aggressively and tend to lose their caution in the rifles.
- 2020 April 8, Paul Stephen, “ECML dive-under drives divergence”, in Rail, page 43:
- [...] Brook Drain has now been diverted into a newly dug replacement river section [...]. It has been designed in conjunction with the Environment Agency to hold a much larger volume of water, in order to help with local flooding issues. It also features riffles (shallow sections of water) and side pools where aquatic wildlife can take shelter during storms.
- A succession of small waves.
- (mining) A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed. Also one of the cleats, grooves or steps in such trough.
- A quick skim through the pages of a book.
- The act of shuffling cards; the sound made while shuffling cards.
Hyponyms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editswift, shallow part of a stream causing broken water
|
mining: trough or sluice, or the cleats or grooves in it
quick skim through the pages of a book
|
act of shuffling playing cards
|
Verb
editriffle (third-person singular simple present riffles, present participle riffling, simple past and past participle riffled)
- (intransitive) To flow over a swift, shallow part of a stream.
- (transitive) To ruffle with a rippling action.
- (intransitive) To skim or flick through the pages of a book.
- (transitive) To leaf through rapidly.
- (transitive) To shuffle playing cards by separating the deck in two and sliding the thumbs along the edges of the cards to mix the two parts.
- (transitive) To idly manipulate objects with the fingers.
- (transitive) To prepare samples of material using a riffler.
Etymology 2
editFrom Danish [Term?] (“a groove”).
Noun
editriffle (plural riffles)
Derived terms
editAnagrams
editGerman
editVerb
editriffle
- inflection of riffeln:
Categories:
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/ɪfəl
- Rhymes:English/ɪfəl/2 syllables
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with quotations
- en:Mining
- English verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English terms derived from Danish
- German non-lemma forms
- German verb forms