air rifle
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of air rifle
An Americanism dating back to 1900–05
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
She was the reserve to Seonaid McIntosh in the 10m air rifle event at the 2024 Games and has set her sights on the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028.
From BBC • Mar. 8, 2025
Radke said he ordered Tovar to stop and talk to him, and Tovar produced what he thought at first was a shotgun, but later turned out to be an air rifle.
From Seattle Times • Mar. 27, 2024
A highlight is the discussion of a novel, multishot air rifle that Meriwether Lewis and William Clark brought on their continental expedition.
From New York Times • Mar. 14, 2023
Telling deputies that they had killed a vulture, they opened the trunk, where instead a dead bald eagle had been stored along with an air rifle and BB pistol.
From Washington Times • Mar. 3, 2023
Winnie brought me an old air rifle that I had in Orlando and Arthur and I would use it for target practice or hunting doves on the farm.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
