carbine

noun

car·​bine ˈkär-ˌbēn 

-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

This futuristic-looking, semiautomatic pistol calibre carbine required no regulated components and was fully DIY. —Rajan Basra, WIRED, 5 July 2024

Winchester chambering was added in 1966 and the carbine model in ’67. —Dave Hurteau, Field & Stream, 4 July 2024

As such, one of the silent auction items up for grabs that night was something that to a beer drinker is what an official Red Ryder, carbine action, two-hundred shot range model air rifle was to Ralphie. —Théoden Janes, Charlotte Observer, 4 Apr. 2024

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

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

Kids Definition

carbine

noun

car·​bine ˈkär-ˌbēn 

-ˌbīn

: a light short-barreled rifle