Definitions

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

  • noun A lightweight rifle with a short barrel.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In the sixteenth century, a firearm; one of the many names given to the lighter form of harquebuse.
  • noun In modern times, a short rifle, especially one adapted to the use of mounted troops.
  • noun A soldier armed with a carbine; a carbineer; a musketeer.

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

  • noun (Mil.) A short, light musket or rifle, esp. one used by mounted soldiers or cavalry.

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

  • noun A smaller lighter version of an existing rifle with a shortened barrel.

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

  • noun light automatic rifle

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French carabine, from Old French carabin, soldier armed with a musket, perhaps from escarrabin, gravedigger, from scarabee, dung beetle; see scarab.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From French carabine

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