blunderbuss
English
Etymology
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e1/Flintlock_Blunderbuss_Tipoo_Sahib_Seringapatam_1793_1794.jpg/220px-Flintlock_Blunderbuss_Tipoo_Sahib_Seringapatam_1793_1794.jpg)
From Dutch donderbus (“blunderbuss”, literally “thunder gun”), which was altered under the influence of blunder.
Pronunciation
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Audio (GA): (file) Audio (AU): (file) - Hyphenation: blun‧der‧buss
Noun
blunderbuss (plural blunderbusses)
- An old style of muzzleloading firearm and early form of shotgun with a distinctive short, large caliber barrel that is flared at the muzzle, therefore able to fire scattered quantities of nails, stones, shot, etc. at short range.
- 1817, Merriweather Lewis & William Clark, Travels to the Source of the Missouri River, and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown (1817), page 354:
- We fired the blunderbuss several times by way of salute, and soon after landed at the bank near the village of the Mahahas, or Shoe Indians, and were received by a crowd of people, who came to welcome our return.
- 1942, Carl G. Erich, "Flintlock Blunderbuss", Popular Science, June 1942:
- One of the most picturesque of the old flintlock guns is the blunderbuss, which was often carried by coach guards for protection against highwaymen.
- 2007, Norm Flayderman, Flayderman's Guide to Antique American Firearms, Gun Digest Books (2007), →ISBN, page 764:
- The blunderbuss never gained great favor in the American colonies or early United States.
- 1817, Merriweather Lewis & William Clark, Travels to the Source of the Missouri River, and Across the American Continent to the Pacific Ocean, Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown (1817), page 354:
Translations
old style of firearm with a distinctive large opening at the muzzle
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Verb
blunderbuss (third-person singular simple present blunderbusses, present participle blunderbussing, simple past and past participle blunderbussed)
- (transitive) To shoot with a blunderbuss.
References
- Michael Quinion (2004) “Blunderbuss”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.
Further reading
blunderbuss on Wikipedia.Wikipedia