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carbine - 4 dictionary results
car⋅bine
[kahr-been, -bahyn] 
–noun
| 1. | a light, gas-operated semiautomatic rifle. |
| 2. | (formerly) a short rifle used in the cavalry. |
Origin:
1595–1605; earlier carabine < MF: small harquebus, weapon borne by a carabin a lightly armed cavalryman, compared with (e)scarabin gravedigger for plague victims (< Pr, akin to F escarbot cockchafer, dung beetle ≪ L scarabaeus scarab ), though semantic change is unclear
1595–1605; earlier carabine < MF: small harquebus, weapon borne by a carabin a lightly armed cavalryman, compared with (e)scarabin gravedigger for plague victims (< Pr, akin to F escarbot cockchafer, dung beetle ≪ L scarabaeus scarab ), though semantic change is unclear
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To carbine
| car·bine (kär'bēn', -bīn') n. A lightweight rifle with a short barrel. [French carabine, from Old French carabin, soldier armed with a musket, perhaps from escarrabin, gravedigger, from scarabee, dung beetle; see scarab.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Carbine
Car"bine\, n. [F. carbine, OF. calabrin carabineer (cf. Ot. calabrina a policeman), fr. OF & Pr. calabre, OF. cable, chable, an engine of war used in besieging, fr. LL. chadabula, cabulus, a kind of projectile machine, fr. Gr. ? a throwing down, fr. ? to throw; ? down + ? to throw. Cf. Parable.] (Mil.) A short, light musket or rifle, esp. one used by mounted soldiers or cavalry.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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carbine
1590, from Fr. carabine, used of light horsemen and also of the weapon they carried, perhaps from M.L. Calabrinus "Calabrian." One far-fetched theory connects it to O.Fr. escarrabin "corpse-bearer during the plague," lit. (probably) "carrion beetle," said to have been an epithet for archers from Flanders.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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