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riffle - 5 dictionary results

rif⋅fle

  [rif-uhl] verb, -fled, -fling, noun
Use riffle in a Sentence
–verb (used with object), verb (used without object)
1. to turn hastily; flutter and shift: to riffle a stack of letters; to riffle through a book.
2. Cards. to shuffle by dividing the deck in two, raising the corners slightly, and allowing them to fall alternately together.
3. to cause or become a riffle.
–noun
4. a rapid, as in a stream.
5. a ripple, as upon the surface of water.
6. Mining. the lining of transverse bars or slats on the bed of a sluice, arranged so as to catch heavy minerals, as gold or platinum.
7. a hopper for distributing bulk material.
8. the act or method of riffling cards.
Origin:
1630–40; b. ripple 1 and ruffle 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To riffle
rif·fle   (rĭf'əl)   
n.  
    1. A rocky shoal or sandbar lying just below the surface of a waterway.
    2. A stretch of choppy water caused by such a shoal or sandbar; a rapid.
    3. In mining, the sectional stone or wood bottom lining of a sluice, arranged for trapping mineral particles, as of gold.
    4. A groove or block in such a lining.
    1. In mining, the sectional stone or wood bottom lining of a sluice, arranged for trapping mineral particles, as of gold.
    2. A groove or block in such a lining.
  3. Games The act or an instance of shuffling cards.
v.   rif·fled, rif·fling, rif·fles

v.   tr.
  1. Games To shuffle (playing cards) by holding part of a deck in each hand and raising up the edges before releasing them to fall alternately in one stack.
  2. To thumb through (the pages of a book, for example).
v.   intr.
  1. Games To shuffle cards.
  2. To become choppy, as water.

[Possibly blend of ripple1 and ruffle1.]
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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Riffle

Rif"fle\, n. [Cf. Riffle a trough.] A ripple in a stream or current of water; also, a place where the water ripples, as on a shallow rapid. [Local, U. S.]

The bass have left the cool depth beside the rock and are on the riffle or just below it. --James A. Henshall.

Riffle

Rif"fle\, n. [CF. G. riffeln, riefeln, to groove. Cf. Rifle a gun.] (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 a trough. Also called ripple.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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riffle 
1754, "to make choppy water," Amer.Eng., perhaps a variant of ruffle "make rough." The word meaning "shuffle" (cards) is first recorded 1894, probably echoic; that of "skim, leaf through quickly" is from 1922.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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