rifle grenade
1
7.5
- noun
- /ˈraɪfəl ɡrəˈneɪd/
- Specialized
:
granada de rifle
- For example, the 115th Brigade noted: rifle grenades have hardly ever been used by any battalion, though there have been times when they might have been extremely useful...
- rifle grenade and hand grenade
Examples
-
"A rifle grenade?" The Federals sometimes used hand grenades fused with percussion caps.
Fiction book (1992) -
The soldiers loaded a rifle grenade into their weapon before launching it towards the enemy position.
-
"This is a rifle grenade, General."
Fiction book (1992) -
Rifle grenades were not used to the proper extent.
Academic text (2010) -
Starlitz examined the scraped and greasy rifle grenades.
Fiction book (1996) -
During the demonstration, the instructor explained how to properly use a rifle grenade to maximize its impact.
-
After the training session, each soldier had a chance to fire a rifle grenade and understand its capabilities.
Synonyms
170
4.4
A small bomb you throw to explode and damage an area
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound is a straightforward noun-noun combination: a 'grenade' associated with a 'rifle', so the meaning 'a grenade used/launched from a rifle' is directly inferable from the constituents. This compositional pattern is common and cross-linguistically transparent, so a B1 learner who knows 'rifle' and 'grenade' can reasonably deduce the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Rifle grenade comes from the simple, literal picture of a grenade put on the end of a rifle and fired like a big bullet. Soldiers would fit the small bomb to the rifle and shoot it forward, so it means 'a grenade made to be launched from a rifle'.