riffle

(rif′əl)

noun

☆
1. a shoal, reef, or shallow in a stream, producing a stretch of ruffled or choppy water
2. a stretch of such water
3. a ripple or the ripples of such water
1. a contrivance, as of bars or slats, put across the bottom of a sluice to form grooves or open spaces for catching and holding particles of gold in mining
2. any of the bars, slats, etc.
3. any of the grooves or spaces
the act or a manner of riffling cards

Origin: < ? or akin to Ger riffel, groove, furrow < EFris, akin to OE rifelung, wrinkle < IE base *rei-, to tear > reap

transitive verb, intransitive verb riffled, riffling

to form, become, or flow over or through, a riffle
to leaf rapidly through (a book, etc.), as by letting the edges or corners of the pages slip lightly across the thumb
to shuffle (playing cards) by holding part of the deck in each hand, raising the corners or edges slightly, and causing the cards to fall alternately together

Origin: < ? Ger riffeln, to form riffles, groove: see rifflethe

See riffle in American Heritage Dictionary 4

noun

a. A rocky shoal or sandbar lying just below the surface of a waterway.
b. A stretch of choppy water caused by such a shoal or sandbar; a rapid.
a. In mining, the sectional stone or wood bottom lining of a sluice, arranged for trapping mineral particles, as of gold.
b. A groove or block in such a lining.
Games The act or an instance of shuffling cards.

verb rif·fled, rif·fling, rif·fles

verb, transitive

Games To shuffle (playing cards) by holding part of a deck in each hand and raising up the edges before releasing them to fall alternately in one stack.
To thumb through (the pages of a book, for example).

verb, intransitive