Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A soldier equipped with a rifle.
  • noun One who shoots a rifle skillfully.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A man armed with a rifle; a man skilled in shooting with the rifle; military, formerly, a member of a body armed with the rifle when most of the infantry had muskets.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Mil.) A soldier armed with a rifle.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A soldier trained to use a rifle as their primary weapon.
  • noun A person especially skilled in the use of a rifle.
  • noun A small wrenlike insectivorous passerine bird endemic to New Zealand, Acanthisitta chloris, the titipounamu.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun someone skilled in the use of a rifle
  • noun a soldier whose weapon is a rifle

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

rifle +‎ -man

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Examples

  • It should be remembered that a unit of a rifle regiment is known as rifleman, not private; we like the term rifleman, and feel justly indignant when a wrong appellation plays skittles with our rank.

    The Amateur Army Patrick MacGill 1926

  • By the way, having first-hand knowledge of the chap for 40 years, I know him to be an excellent trap and bird shooter, First-Cabin rifleman/hunter, and he knows more about such stuff than anyone should ... even though he didn't include the Model 1911 Colt .45 in his top 50 list.

    Shameless Products Plugs 2008

  • As a rule, the upper limit for most rifleman is a. 41-caliber cartridge such as the .416 Remington or Rigby.

    How Much Kick Can You Take? 2007

  • On August 19, 1968, Private First Class Johnson was a rifleman from the 4th Infantry Division on a search and destroy mission with his unit in the mountainous central highlands area of Sa Thay District,

    Johnson, William D. 1990

  • The rifleman was a "very keen outdoors type" as a child, enjoying martial arts, rowing and canoeing.

    CommonDreams.org Headlines 2010

  • Let's be frank - defending yourself with a pistol against a rifleman is a poor situation. 15 pistol rounds does not equal 1 / 2 of an M4.

    Kit Up 2009

  • Let's be frank - defending yourself with a pistol against a rifleman is a poor situation. 15 pistol rounds does not equal 1 / 2 of an M4.

    Kit Up 2009

  • Let's be frank - defending yourself with a pistol against a rifleman is a poor situation. 15 pistol rounds does not equal 1 / 2 of an M4.

    Kit Up 2009

  • The order will cover 20,000 Modular Lightweight Load-Carrying Equipment systems with options for military roles such as rifleman and medic.

    Jacksonville Business News - Local Jacksonville News | Jacksonville Business Journal 2010

  • You'll start out as an infantry soldier and can choose from roles such as rifleman, marksman and grenadier.

    Eurogamer 2009

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