carbine
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carbine
a shoulder rifle with a short barrel
Not to be confused with:
carbon – a nonmetallic element
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.]
carbine
(ˈkɑːbaɪn)n
1. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) a light automatic or semiautomatic rifle of limited range
2. (Firearms, Gunnery, Ordnance & Artillery) Also called: carabin or carabine a light short-barrelled shoulder rifle formerly used by cavalry
[C17: from French carabine, from Old French carabin carabineer, perhaps variant of escarrabin one who prepares corpses for burial, from scarabée, from Latin scarabaeus scarab]
car•bine
(ˈkɑr bin, -baɪn)n.
1. a light, gas-operated semiautomatic rifle.
2. any of various short-barreled muskets or rifles used, orig. by cavalry troops, since c1600.
[1595–1605; < Middle French carabine]
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| Noun | 1. |  carbine - light automatic rifle rifle - a shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore; "he lifted the rifle to his shoulder and fired" |