a light automatic or semiautomatic rifle of limited range
2. Also called: carabin, carabine
a light short-barrelled shoulder rifle formerly used by cavalry
Word origin
C17: from French carabine, from Old French carabin carabineer, perhaps variant of escarrabin one who prepares corpses for burial, from scarabée, from Latin scarabaeusscarab
carbine in American English
(ˈkɑrˌbaɪn; ˈkɑrˌbin)
noun
1.
a rifle with a short barrel, orig. for use by cavalry
2. US
a light, semiautomatic or automatic rifle of relatively limited range
Word origin
Fr carabine < carabin, mounted rifleman < OFr escarrabin, corpse bearer during the plague (lit., prob. “carrion beetle,” used as epithet forarchers from Flanders) < scarabée: see scarab