Word forms: 3rd person singular presenttense riffles, present participle riffling, past tense, past participle riffled
verb
If you riffle through the pages of a book or riffle them, you turn them over quickly, without reading everything that is on them.
I riffled through the pages until I reached the index. [VERB + through]
[Also VERB noun]
riffle in British English
(ˈrɪfəl)
verb
1. (whenintr, often foll by through)
to flick rapidly through (the pages of a book, magazine, etc), esp in a desultory manner
2.
to shuffle (playing cards) by halving the pack and flicking the adjacent corners together
3.
to make or become a riffle
noun
4. US and Canadian
a.
a rapid in a stream
b.
a rocky shoal causing a rapid
c.
a ripple on water
5. mining
a contrivance on the bottom of a sluice, containing transverse grooves for trapping particles of gold
6.
the act or an instance of riffling
Word origin
C18: probably from ruffle1, influenced by ripple1
riffle in American English
(ˈrɪfəl)
noun
1. US
a.
a shoal, reef, or shallow in a stream, producing a stretch of ruffled or choppy water
b.
a stretch of such water
c.
a ripple or the ripples of such water
2.
a.
a contrivance, as of bars or slats, put across the bottom of a sluice to form grooves or open spaces for catching and holding particles of gold in mining
b.
any of the bars, slats, etc.
c.
any of the grooves or spaces
3.
the act or a manner of riffling cards
verb transitive, verb intransitiveWord forms: ˈriffled or ˈriffling
4.
to form, become, or flow over or through, a riffle
5.
to leaf rapidly through (a book, etc.), as by letting the edges or corners of the pages slip lightly across the thumb
6.
to shuffle (playing cards) by holding part of the deck in each hand, raising the corners or edges slightly, and causing the cards to fall alternately together
Word origin
< ? or akin to Ger riffel, groove, furrow < EFris, akin to OE rifelung, wrinkle < IE base *rei-, to tear > reap
Examples of 'riffle' in a sentence
riffle
He puts down the pen and uses the free hand to riffle some pages -- But there weren't such bruises in this case?
Sean Thomas THE CHEEK PERFORATION DANCE (2002)
The bay was a dull, tarnished silver, nothing moving out there, no birds, no boats, not even the riffle of wind.