Trifle vs. Rifle — What's the Difference?

Trifle is a dessert found in British and other cuisines. Made with fruit, a thin layer of sponge fingers commonly soaked in sherry or another fortified wine, and custard, the contents of a trifle are highly variable; many varieties exist, some forgoing fruit entirely and instead using other ingredients, such as chocolate, coffee or vanilla.

A gun, especially one fired from shoulder level, having a long spirally grooved barrel intended to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance

A thing of little value or importance

A rifle is a long-barrelled firearm designed for accurate shooting, with a barrel that has a helical pattern of grooves (rifling) cut into the bore wall. In keeping with their focus on accuracy, rifles are typically designed to be held with both hands and braced firmly against the shooter's shoulder via a buttstock for stability during shooting.

A cold dessert of sponge cake and fruit covered with layers of custard, jelly, and cream

Make spiral grooves in (a gun or its barrel or bore) to make a bullet spin and thereby have greater accuracy over a long distance

Treat without seriousness or respect

Hit or kick (a ball) hard and straight

Talk or act frivolously

Search through something in a hurried way in order to find or steal something

Something of little importance or value.

A firearm with a spirally grooved bore, designed to be fired from the shoulder.

A small amount; a jot.

An artillery piece or naval gun with a spirally grooved bore.

A dessert typically consisting of plain or sponge cake soaked in sherry, rum, or brandy and topped with layers of jam or jelly, custard, and whipped cream.

Rifles Troops armed with rifles.

A moderately hard variety of pewter.

To cut spiral grooves within (a gun barrel, for example).

Trifles Utensils made from this variety of pewter.

To search (an area or container, for example) thoroughly, especially using the hands with the intent to steal or remove something

To treat flippantly or without seriousness; play or toy

To rob or search with the intent to rob

(Archaic) To act or speak with little seriousness or purpose; jest.

To steal (goods).

To waste (time or money, for example).

To search vigorously

An English dessert made from a mixture of thick custard, fruit, sponge cake, jelly and whipped cream.

(weaponry) A firearm fired from the shoulder; improved range and accuracy is provided by a long, rifled barrel.

Anything that is of little importance or worth.

A rifleman.

An insignificant amount of money.

(weaponry) An artillery piece with a rifled barrel.

A very small amount (of something).

A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.

A particular kind of pewter.

(intransitive) To quickly search through many items (such as papers, the contents of a drawer, a pile of clothing). (See also riffle^{[http://verbmall.blogspot.com/2008/05/riffle-or-rifle.html]})

(uncountable) Utensils made from this particular kind of pewter.

(intransitive) To commit robbery or theft.

(intransitive) To deal with something as if it were of little importance or worth.

(transitive) To search with intent to steal; to ransack, pillage or plunder.

(intransitive) To act, speak, or otherwise behave with jest.

(transitive) To strip of goods; to rob; to pillage.

(intransitive) To inconsequentially toy with something.

(transitive) To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.

(transitive) To squander or waste.

(transitive) To add a spiral groove to a gun bore to make a fired bullet spin in flight in order to improve range and accuracy.

To make a trifle of, to make trivial.

(transitive) To cause (a projectile, as a rifle bullet) to travel in a flat ballistic trajectory.

A thing of very little value or importance; a paltry, or trivial, affair.

(intransitive) To move in a flat ballistic trajectory (as a rifle bullet).

A dish composed of sweetmeats, fruits, cake, wine, etc., with syllabub poured over it.

To dispose of in a raffle.

To act or talk without seriousness, gravity, weight, or dignity; to act or talk with levity; to indulge in light or trivial amusements.

To engage in a raffle.

To make of no importance; to treat as a trifle.

To seize and bear away by force; to snatch away; to carry off.

To spend in vanity; to fritter away; to waste; as, to trifle away money.

To strip; to rob; to pillage.

Jam-spread sponge cake soaked in wine served with custard sauce

To raffle.

A detail that is considered insignificant

To raffle.

Something of small importance

To commit robbery.

Waste time; spend one's time idly or inefficiently

To grove; to channel; especially, to groove internally with spiral channels; as, to rifle a gun barrel or a cannon.

Act frivolously

A gun, the inside of whose barrel is grooved with spiral channels, thus giving the ball a rotary motion and insuring greater accuracy of fire. As a military firearm it has superseded the musket.

Consider not very seriously;

A body of soldiers armed with rifles.

A strip of wood covered with emery or a similar material, used for sharpening scythes.

A shoulder firearm with a long barrel and a rifled bore;

Steal goods; take as spoils;

Go through in search of something; search through someone's belongings in an unauthorized way;