What Does the Word Rifling?

1 : the act or process of making spiral grooves. 2 : a system of spiral grooves in the surface of the bore of a gun causing a projectile when fired to rotate about its longer axis.

What does rifling through mean?

: to search through something quickly and carelessly often in order to take or steal something He rifled through the papers on his desk.

Where did the word rifling come from?

The name comes from the shape of the barrel, which is grooved — or rifled, from the Old French word rifler, "to scratch or groove." Another meaning of rifle comes from the same root but means "to search through things in a hurried way." “Who rifled through my desk drawers?”