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carbine

 - 3 dictionary results

car⋅bine

  [kahr-been, -bahyn]
Use carbine in a Sentence
–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
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source 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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Word Origin & History

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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