carbine
Americannoun
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a light, gas-operated semiautomatic rifle.
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(formerly) a short rifle used in the cavalry.
noun
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a light automatic or semiautomatic rifle of limited range
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Also called: carabin. carabine. a light short-barrelled shoulder rifle formerly used by cavalry
Etymology
Origin of carbine
1595–1605; earlier carabine < Middle French: small harquebus, weapon borne by a carabin a lightly armed cavalryman, compared with ( e ) scarabin gravedigger for plague victims (< Provençal, akin to French escarbot cockchafer, dung beetle ≪ Latin scarabaeus scarab ), though semantic change is unclear
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.
“What I remember is the time John Wayne killed three men with a carbine . . . and the time the kitten found Orson Welles in the doorway in The Third Man.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
Pusser indeed owned a lot of guns, including a .30 carbine caliber revolver that Mike Elam managed to procure over the course of his investigation.
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2025
Possible sales of firearms were also discussed with Colt CZ Group, the Czech holding company that owns the long-established U.S. carbine and rifle maker, the source said.
From Reuters ● Apr. 24, 2023
The three weapons included a military-style semiautomatic rifle, one handgun and a small 9-mm carbine, Mr. Aaron said.
From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2023
It looked like an army gun, a carbine I think, with a square magazine sticking out of the bottom.
From "Z for Zachariah" by Robert C. O’Brien
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.
