n.
A lightweight rifle with a short barrel.
[French carabine, from Old French carabin, soldier armed with a musket, perhaps from escarrabin, gravedigger, from scarabee, dung beetle. See scarab.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
