rifacimento 
fact. Cf. refect.'] A remaking or reestablish- 
ment: a term most commonly applied to the pro- 
cess of recasting literary works so as to adapt 
them to a changed state or changed circum- 
stances; an adaptation, as when a work written 
in one age or country is modified to suit the cir- 
cumstances of another. The term is applied in 
an analogous sense to musical compositions. 
What man of taste and feeling can endure rifacintenti, 
harmonies, abridgments, expurgated editions? 
Macaulay, Boswell's Johnson. 
Shakespeare's earliest works were undoubtedly rifaci. 
menti of the plays of his predecessors. 
Dyce, Note to Greene, Int., p. 37. 
life 1 (rif), a. [< ME. rif, rife, rive, < AS. rife 
(occurs but once), abundant, = OD. rijf, rijve, 
abundant, copious, = MLG. LG. rive, abun- 
dant, munificent, = Icel. rifr, abundant, mu- 
nificent, rifligr, large, munificent, = OSw. rif, 
rife. Cf. Icel. reifa, bestow, reifir, a giver.] 1. 
Great in quantity or number; abundant; plen- 
tiful; numerous. 
That citie wer sure men sett for too keepe, 
With mich riall arale redy too fight, 
With atling of areblast & archers ryft. 
Alisaunder of Maccdoine (E. E. T. S.), L 268. 
The men who have given to one character life 
And objective existence are not very rife. 
Lowell, Fable for Critics. 
2. Well supplied; abounding; rich; replete; 
filled: followed by with. 
Whose life was work, whose language rife 
With rugged maxims hewn from life. 
Tennyson, Death of Wellington. 
Our swelling actions want the little leaven 
To make them mth the sighed-for blessing rife. 
Jones Very, Poems, p. 74. 
3f. Easy. 
With Gods it is rife 
To geue and bereue breath. 
Puttenham, Arte of Eng. Poesie, p. 78. 
Hath utmost Inde aught better than his own? 
Then utmost Inde is near, and rife to gone. 
Bp. Hatt, Satires, III. i. 55. 
4. Prevalent; current; in common use or ac- 
ceptance. 
To be cumbrid with couetous, by custome of old. 
That rote is & rankist of all the rif syns. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 11775. 
Errors are infinite ; and follies, how universally /-/'* ' 
even of the wisest sort. 6. Harvey, Four Letters. 
That grounded maxim, 
So rife and celebrated in the months 
Of wisest men. Milton, S. A., 1. 866. 
5f. Publicly or openly known; hence, manifest; 
plain; clear. 
Adam abraid. and sag that wif, 
Name he gaf hire dat is ful rif; 
Issa was hire flrste name. 
Genesis and Exodus (E. E. T. S.), 1. 282. 
Even now the tumult of loud mirth 
Was rife, and perfect in my listening ear. 
Milton, Comus, 1. 203. 
rife 1 ! (rif), adv. [< ME. rife; < rife 1 , a.] 1. 
Abundantly; plentifully. 
I presse a grape with stork and stryf, 
The Rede wyn renneth ryf. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 136. 
In tribnlacioun y regne moore rijf 
Ofttymes than in disport. 
Political Poems, eta. (ed. Furnivall), p. 158. 
2. Plainly; clearly. 
Bi thi witt thon maist knowe rijf 
That merci passith rigtwisnes. 
Hymns to Virgin, etc. (E. E. T. S.X p. 98. 
3. Currently; commonly; frequently. 
The Pestilence doth most rifest infect the clearest com- 
pleetion, and the Caterpiller cleaueth vnto the ripest 
fruite. Lyly, Euphues, Anat. of Wit (ed. ArberX p. 39. 
rife 2 t, v. An obsolete form of rive 1 . 
rifely (rif 'H), adv. [< ME. rifli, rifliche (= Icel. 
rifliga) ; < rife 1 + -fy 2 .] In a rife manner, la) 
Plentifully ; abundantly. 
There launchit I to laund, a litle for ese, 
Restid me rifely, ricchit my seluyn. 
Destruction of Troy (E. E. T. S.), 1. 13149. 
(6) Prevalently ; currently ; widely. 
The word went wide how the mayde was geue 
Rifliche thurth-out rome. 
William of Paleme(E. E. T. S.X 1. 1472. 
rifeness (rif 'nes), n. The state of being rife. 
riffM (rif). n. [< ME. 'rif, < AS. hrif = OS. 
hrif= OFries. rif, ref = OHG. href, ref, belly. 
Cf. midriff.] The belly; the bowels. 
Then came his good sword forth to act his part. 
Which pierc'd skin, ribs, and rife, and rove her heart 
The head (his trophy) from the trunk he cuts, 
And with it back unto the shore he struts. 
Legend of Captain Jones. (HalliweU.) 
riff 2 (rif), n. [Seeree/l.] If. An obsolete form 
of reef 1 . 2. A rapid or riffle. See riffle 2 . [Lo- 
cal, TJ. S.] 
5174 
The lower side of large, loose stones at the ri/s or shal- 
low places in streams; the rock amid the foaming water; 
... in all these places they Ifresh-water sponges] have 
been found in great abundance. 
Pop. Set. Mo., XXXIV. 711. 
rifPt, An obsolete form of ree/ 2 . 
riffle 1 (rif '!), n. [< Dan. rifle, a groove, channel : 
see rifle?, n.] 1. In mining, the lining of the 
bottom of a sluice, made of blocks or slats of 
wood, or stones, arranged in such a manner 
that chinks are left open between them, in 
these chinks more or less quicksilver is usually placed, 
and it is by the aid of this arrangement that the particles 
of gold, as they are carried downward by the current of 
water, are arrested and held fast. The whole arrange- 
ment at the bottom of the sluices is usually called the 
riffles. In the smaller gold-saving machines, formerly 
much used, as the cradle, the slats of wood nailed across 
the bottom for the purpose of detaining the gold are called 
riffle-bars or simply riffles. 
2. A piece of plank placed transversely in, and 
fastened to the bottom of, a fish-ladder. The rif- 
fles do not extend from side to side, but only about two 
thirds across. If the first riffle is fastened on the right 
side of the box at right angles to its side, it will extend 
about 30 inches across the box ; the next, about 4 feet 
above, will be fastened on the left side of the box; the 
next, about 4 feet above, on the right side ; and so on al- 
ternately until the top is reached. The water passing 
into the top is caught by the riffles and turned right and 
left by them until it reaches the stream below. Riffles 
furnish the fish a resting-place in scaling a dam. 
3. In seal-engraving, a very small iron disk at 
the end of a tool, used ttf develop a high polish. 
riffle 2 (rif '!), n. [Appar. a dim. of riff'*, prob. 
associated with rippteX] A ripple, as upon the 
surface of water; Tience, a rapid ; a place in a 
stream where a swift current, striking upon 
rocks, produces a boiling motion in the water. 
[Local, U. S.] 
riffle-bars (rif'l-biirz), n. pi. In mining, slats 
of wood nailed across the bottom of a cradle 
or other small gold-washing machine, for the 
purpose of detaining the gold; riffles. 
riffler (rifler), n. [< riffle 1 , rifle?, groove, + -er 1 . 
Cf . G. riffel-feile, a riffle-file, a curved file grooved 
for working in depressions : see riffle 1 ."] 1. A 
kind of file with a somewhat curved extremity, 
suitable for working in small depressions. 
The rifflers of sculptors and a few other files are curvi- 
linear in their central line. Encyc. Brit., IX. 160. 
2. A workman who uses such a file, especially 
in metal-work. 
riffraff (rif'raf), n. [Early mod. E. rifferaffe; 
< ME. rif and raf, every particle, things of 
small value, < OF. rif 'et raf("il ne luy lairra 
rif ny raf, he will leave him neither rif nor 
raf" Cotgrave), also rifle rafle ("on n'y a 
laisse ne rifle ne rafle, they have swept all 
away, they have left no manner of thing be- 
hind them" Cotgrave), rt/and ra/being half- 
riming quasi-nouns reduced respectively from 
OF. rifler, rifle, ransack, spoil (see rifle 1 , v.), 
and raffler (F. rafter), rifle, ravage, snatch 
away: see raffle 1 . Cf. Olt. raffola, ruffola, "by 
riffraffe, by hooke or crooke, by pinching or 
scraping" (Florio).] 1. Scraps; refuse; rub- 
bish; trash. 
It is not Ciceroes tongue that can peerce their armour 
to wound the body, nor Archimedes prickes, and lines, 
and circles, and triangles, and rhombus, and ri/e-ra/e 
that hath any force to drive them backe. 
Qosson, Schools of Abuse (1579). (Balliwell.) 
You would inforce upon us the old ri/e-raffe of Sarum, 
and other monasticall reliques. 
Milton, On Def. of Humb. Remonst. 
"La, yes, Miss Matt," said she after seating me in her 
splint-bottom chair before a rif -raff flre. 
The Century, XXXVII. 939. 
2. The rabble. 
Like modern prize fights, they drew together all the 
scum and ri/-raff, as well as the gentry who were fond of 
so-called sport. 
J. Ashton, Social Life in Reign of Queen Anne, I. 315. 
Almack's, for instance, was far more exclusive than the 
Court. Riff-raff might go to Court ; but they could not 
get to Almack's, for at its gates there stood, not one angel 
with a fiery sword, but six in the shape of English ladies, 
terrible in turbans, splendid in diamonds, magnificent in 
satin, and awful in rank. 
W. Besant, Fifty Years Ago, p. 114. 
3. Sport ; fun. HalliweU. [Prov. Eng.] 
rifle 1 (ri'fl), v. ; pret. and pp. rifled, ppr. rifling. 
[< ME. riflen, < OF. rifler, rifle, ransack, spoil; 
with freq. suffix, < Icel. hrifa, rifa, grapple, 
seize, pull up, scratch, grasp, akin to krifsa, 
rob, pillage, hrifs, plunder.] I. trans. I. To 
seize and bear away by force; snatch away. 
Till Time shall rifle ev'ry youthful Grace. 
Pope, Iliad, 1. 41. 
rifle 
2. To rob; plunder; pillage: often followed 
by of. 
"Ones," quath he, "ich was yherborwed with an hep of 
chapmen ; 
Ich a-ros and rifled here males [bags) whenne thei a reste 
were." Piers Plowman (C), vii. 236. 
H. said, as touchyng the peple that rifled yow, and the 
doyng thereof, he was not privy therto. 
Paston Letters, I. 158. 
The city shall be taken, and the houses rijled. 
Zech. xiv. 2. 
The roadside garden and the secret glen 
Were rifled of their sweetest flowers. 
Bryant, Sella. 
3f. To raffle ; dispose of in a raffle. 
I have at one throw 
Rifled away the diadem of Spain. 
Lust's Dominion, v. 1. 
II. intrans. 1. To commit robbery or theft. 
Thither repair at accustomed times their harlots, . . . 
not with empty hands, for they he as skilful in picking, 
rifling, and niching as the upright men. 
Harmon, Caveat for Cursetors, p. 21. 
2f. To raffle : play at dice or some other game 
of chance wherein the winner secures stakes 
previously agreed upon. 
A rifling, or a kind of game wherein he that in casting 
doth throw most on the dyce takes up all the monye that 
is layd downe. Nomenclator (1586), p. 293. (Hallimll.) 
We'll strike up a drum, set up a tent, call people to- 
gether, put crowns apiece, let 's rifle for her. 
Chapman, Blind Beggar of Alexandria. 
rifle 2 (ri'fl), i'.; pret. and pp. rifted, ppr. rifling. 
[< Dan. rifle, rifle, groove (riflede sailer, fluted 
columns; cf. rifle, a groove, flute), = Sw. reffla, 
rifle (reffelbossa, a rifled gun), < rire (for "rife). 
tear, = Sw. rifva, scratch, tear, grate, grind, = 
Icel. rifa, rive : see me 1 , and cf. rivel. Cf. G. 
riefe, a furrow (< LG.), riefen, rifle; and see 
riffle 1 .'] I. trans. 1. In gun-making, to cut spiral 
grooves in (the bore of a gun-barrel). Grooves 
are now in universal use for small-arms, and for the most 
part are used in ordnance. Small-arms are rifled by a 
cutting-tool attached to a rod and drawn through the bar- 
rel, while at the same time a revolution on the longitudi- 
nal axis is imparted to the tool. Rifled cannon are rifled 
by pushing through their bores a cutting-tool mounted on 
an arbor that exactly fits the bore. See rifling-machine. 
2. To whet, as a scythe, with a rifle. [Local, 
Eng. and New Eng.] 
n. intrans. To groove firearms spirally along 
the interior of the bore. 
The leading American match-rifle makers all rifle upon 
the same plan viz., a sharp continual spiral and very 
shallow grooves. W. W. Greener, The Gun, p. 148. 
rifle 2 (ri'fl), n. [Short for rifled gun : see rifle?, 
v. Cf. Sw. reffelbossa, a rifled gun. The Dan. 
riff el, Sw. rifle, a rifle, are < E.] 1. A firearm 
or a piece of ordnance having a barrel (or bar- 
rels) with a spirally grooved bore. Spirally grooved 
gun-barrels are of German origin ; some authorities think 
they were invented by Gaspard Kollner of Vienna, in 
1498; others regard Augustus Hotter of Nuremberg as 
the originator, the invention, according to these writers, 
dating between 1500 and 1520. Straight grooves were 
used in the fifteenth century, but their purpose was sim- 
ply to form recesses for the reception of dirt and to aid in 
cleaning the gun. Spiral grooving has a distinct object 
beyond this, namely, to impart to the projectile a rotation 
whereby its flight is rendered more nearly accurate the 
principle being that, when the center of gravity in the 
bullet does not exactly coincide with its longitudinal axis, 
as is nearly always the case, any tendency to deviate from 
the vertical plane including that axis will, by the constant 
revolution of the bullet, be exerted in all directions at 
right angles with its geometrical axis. A variety of shapes 
in the cross-sections of the grooves have been and are still 
used. The number of grooves is also different for differ- 
ent rifles, as is the pitch of the spiral that is. the dis- 
tance, measured on the axis of the bore, included by a sin- 
gle turn of the spiral. The variation in small-arms in this 
particular is wide from one turn in 17 inches to one 
turn in 7 feet. In ordnance the pitch is much greater. 
Breech-loading guns began to appear in the first half of 
the sixteenth century, and were probably either of French 
or German origin. Such guns were made in Italy in the 
latter half of the sixteenth century. During the war of 
independence in America, a breech-loading rifle invented 
by Major Patrick Fergusson, and known as the Fergusson 
rifle, was used ; it was the flrst breech-loading carbine 
used in the British regular army. A great many breech- 
loading rifles have since appeared. Muzzle-loading rifles 
have been superseded as military arms by these guns, and 
to a large extent the latter have supplanted muzzle-loaders 
for sporting arms. Many breech-loaders once of impor- 
tance in American and European warfare have in their 
turn been superseded by improved arms. Among them 
is the once justly celebrated Prussian needle-gun. These 
improvements have culminated in the Winchester and 
other repeating arms, which admit of refined accuracy of 
aim with great rapidity of firing. The tendency in mod- 
ern rifles is toward smaller bores and chambers. The 
most recent advance in this direction of improvement is 
of German origin (1889-90X and consists in making rifles 
nf much smaller bore and less weit'ht than have hitherto 
been used, with bnllete of lead and wolfram alloy having 
a specific gravity 50 per cent, greater than that of the lead 
iind antimony alloy of the common hardened rifle-bullets. 
The bores of guns with which experiments have been 
made are less than 8 millimeters in diameter. Some hav- 
ing bores only 4 millimeters (about J inch) in diameter 
