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riffle

UK/ˈɹɪfəl/US/ˈɹɪfəl/
verbC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,762 of 15,258neutral

Other forms: riffles, riffled

To riffle is to turn pages quickly with the thumb. Riffle through a book, riffling the pages, riffle the cards.

It is looking rather than reading, so riffling through a report finds nothing much. A riffle shuffle is the card shuffle where two halves are sprung together. In a river a riffle is a shallow patch of broken water. Note rifle through, which is a different word meaning to search and rob.

Definitions of riffle

  1. 1verbriffleTo turn pages quickly with the thumb.C1

    “He riffled through the pages of the book, looking for his bookmark.”

riffle is a quick turning.

Where it comes from

Probably a variant of ruffle, related to Low German ruffelen, to crumple.

  1. Middle English

    ruffelen

  2. English, today

    riffle

Possible alteration of ruffle, from Middle English ruffelen, akin to Low German ruffelen (“to crumple”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practised in A Song of Ice and Fire

Practise this word

riffle in the wild

  • Within Leuciscidae, the riffle daces are the sister group to a clade comprising Oregonichthys and Tiaroga.

    Rhinichthys

  • The pools are areas of active erosion and the material eroded tends to be deposited in the riffle areas between them.

    Riffle-pool sequence

  • A riffle is a shallow landform in a flowing channel.

    Riffle

  • However, in geology a riffle has specific characteristics.

    Riffle

  • Many species are known as riffle minnows or spirlins.

    Alburnoides

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.