riffle
Plural: riffles
Noun
- a small wave on the surface of a liquid
- shuffling by splitting the pack and interweaving the two halves at their corners
- A swift, shallow part of a stream causing broken water.
- A succession of small waves.
- A trough or sluice having cleats, grooves, or steps across the bottom for holding quicksilver and catching particles of gold when auriferous earth is washed. Also one of the cleats, grooves or steps in such trough.
- A quick skim through the pages of a book.
- Synonym of riffle shuffle
- The sound made while shuffling cards.
- In seal engraving, a small metal disc at the end of a tool.
Verb
Verb Forms: riffled, riffling, riffles
- To turn pages or shuffle cards quickly; to flow in ripples.
- twitch or flutter
- look through a book or other written material
- stir up (water) so as to form ripples
- shuffle (playing cards) by separating the deck into two parts and riffling with the thumbs so the cards intermix
- To flow over a swift, shallow part of a stream.
- To ruffle with a rippling action.
- To skim or flick through the pages of a book.
- To leaf through rapidly.
- To shuffle playing cards by separating the deck in two and sliding the thumbs along the edges of the cards to mix the two parts.
- To idly manipulate objects with the fingers.
- To prepare samples of material using a riffler.
Examples
- He would RIFFLE through his tiles nervously, searching for a high-scoring play.
Origin / Etymology
Possible alteration of ruffle, from Middle English ruffelen, akin to Low German ruffelen (“to crumple”).
Synonyms
cockle, flick, flip, leaf, riff, ripple, rippling, ruffle, thumb, undulate, wavelet, riffle shuffle
Scrabble Score: 12
riffle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordriffle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
riffle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary