Emily Dickinson Lexicon

RIFE, a. [Sax. ryfe. Qu. Heb. רבה, to multiply.]

Prevailing; prevalent. It is used of epidemic diseases. The plague was then rife in Hungary. – Knolles.

RIFE'LY, adv.

Prevalently; frequently. It was rifely reported that the Turks were coming in a great fleet. – Knolles.

RIFE'NESS, n.

Frequency; prevalence. – Arbuthnot.

RIFF'RAFF, n. [Fr. rifler; G. raffen, to sweep; Dan. rips, raps.]

Sweepings; refuse. – Hall.

RI'FLE, n. [Dan. rifle, or riffle, the rifle of a gun; riffelbösse, a rifle gun; G. reifeln, to chamfer, to rifle. This word belongs to the family of rip, rive, L. rapio, &c. supra. The word means primarily a channel or groove.]

A gun about the usual length and size of a musket, the inside of whose barrel is rifled, that is, grooved, or formed with spiral channels.

RI'FLE, v.t.¹ [Fr. rifler, to rifle, to sweep away; allied probably to friper and griveler; G. raffen, to sweep; riffeln, to hatchel. This is one of the family of rip, rive, reap, raffle, L. rapio, W. rheibiaw, D. ryven, to grate, Eng. rub, &c.]

1. To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away. Till time shall rifle ev'ry youthful grace. – Pope.
2. To strip; to rob; to pillage; to plunder. You have rifled my master. – L'Estrange.

RI'FLE, v.t.²

To groove; to channel.

RI'FLED, pp.

Seized and carried away by violence; pillaged; channeled.

RI'FLE-MAN, n.

A man armed with a rifle.

RI'FLER, n.

A robber; one that seizes and bears away by violence.

RI'FLING, ppr.

Plundering; seizing and carrying away by violence; grooving.

RIFT, n.¹ [from rive.]

A cleft; a fissure; an opening made by riving or splitting. – Milton. Dryden.

RIFT, n.² [D. rif.]

A shallow place in a stream; a fording place. [Local.]

RIFT, v.i.

1. To burst open; to split. Timber … not apt to rift with ordnance. – Bacon.
2. To belch; to break wind. [Local.]

RIFT, v.t.

To cleave; to rive; to split; as, to rift an oak or a rock. – Milton. Pope.

RIFT'ED, pp.

Split; rent; cleft.

RIFT'ING, ppr.

Splitting; cleaving; bursting.

RIG, n.¹ [Sax.]

A ridge, – which see.

RIG, n.² [See the Verb.]

1. Dress; also, bluster.
2. A romp; a wanton; a strumpet. To run the rig, to play a wanton trick. To run the rig upon, to practice a sportive trick on.

RIG, v.i.

To play the wanton.

RIG, v.t. [Sax. wrigan, to put on, to cover, whence Sax. hrægle, a garment, contracted into rail, in night-rail.]

1. To dress; to put on; when applied to persons, not elegant, but rather a ludicrous word, to express the putting on of a gay, flaunting or unusual dress. Jack was rigged out in his gold and silver lace, with a feather in his cap. – L'Estrange.
2. To furnish with apparatus or gear; to fit with tackling.
3. To rig a ship, in seamen's language, is to fit the shrouds, stays, braces, &c. to their respective masts and yards. – Mar. Dict.

RIG-A-DOON', n. [Fr. rigodon.]

A gay brisk dance performed by one couple, and said to have been borrowed from Provence in France. – Encyc.

RI-GA'TION, n. [L. rigatio, from rigo, Gr. βρεχω. See Rain.]

The act of watering; but irrigation is generally used.

RIG'GED, pp.

Dressed; furnished with shrouds, stays, &c. as a ship.

RIG'GER, n.

One that rigs or dresses; one whose occupation is to fit the rigging of a ship.