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riffle

 - 3 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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Word Origin & History

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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