carbine - Definitions from Dictionary.com

5 results for: carbine

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

car·bine

Audio Help [kahr-been, -bahyn] Pronunciation Key

–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

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
carbine

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

car·bine Audio Help (kär'bēn', -bīn') Pronunciation Key
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.]

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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.

WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This

carbine
noun
light automatic rifle

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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.

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