carbine

noun

car·​bine ˈkär-ˌbēn How to pronounce carbine (audio)
-ˌbīn
1
: a short-barreled lightweight firearm originally used by cavalry
2
: a light short-barreled repeating rifle that is used as a supplementary military arm or for hunting in dense brush

Examples of carbine in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web His face marked by the scars where two 30 caliber carbine slugs blasted half of his face away, former McNairy County Sheriff Buford Pusser points to a section along a lonely blacktop road where he and his wife Pauline were ambushed in 1967. CBS News, 9 Feb. 2024 So, please, don't shoot my eye out with an official Red Ryder, carbine action, 200-shot range model air rifle! Chris Nashawaty, EW.com, 28 Nov. 2023 These are the victims of the Nashville school shooting The AR-15 and 9 mm pistol caliber carbine appear to have 30-round magazines, according to experts who reviewed photos and video released by police. Ray Sanchez, CNN, 30 Mar. 2023 The shooter was armed with a Hi-Point .45-caliber carbine long gun. Phil Helsel, NBC News, 21 Nov. 2023 Kim presented Putin with a carbine made by Korean craftsmen and other gifts, the Kremlin spokesman said. Mikhail Klimentov, Washington Post, 14 Sep. 2023 Media reports have put the new carbine’s effective range at anywhere from 1,000–1,200 yards. Eric Tegler, Popular Mechanics, 17 Aug. 2023 During the night between Tuesday and Wednesday, Prigozhin arrived at the city’s Federal Security Services building in a BMW 7 Series and received a cache of carbines, automatic rifles, and pistols that authorities had taken from his country residence, Fontanka reported. Valerie Hopkins, BostonGlobe.com, 6 July 2023 Within minutes, Bradley Hocevar — who was inside the home with his wife, Jana — fired his M4 carbine 30 times, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a news conference Monday. María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post, 28 June 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'carbine.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

borrowed from Middle French charabine, carabine, feminine derivative of carabin "lightly armed cavalryman," perhaps a jocular designation altered from escarrabin, scarrabin "grave digger for plague victims," probably alteration by suffix substitution of escarbot "dung beetle," going back to Old French escharbot, from escharb- (going back to the base of Latin scarabaeus "beetle") + -ot, noun suffix (going back to Vulgar Latin *-ottus, diminutive suffix) — more at scarab

First Known Use

1592, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of carbine was in 1592

Dictionary Entries Near carbine

Cite this Entry

“Carbine.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carbine. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

carbine

noun
car·​bine ˈkär-ˌbēn How to pronounce carbine (audio)
-ˌbīn
: a light short-barreled rifle

More from Merriam-Webster on carbine

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