blunderbuss

A flintlock blunderbuss

From Dutch donderbus (“blunderbuss”, literally “thunder gun”), which was altered under the influence of blunder.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈblʌndəbʌs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈblʌndəɹbʌs/

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• Hyphenation: blun‧der‧buss

blunderbuss (plural blunderbusses)

1. 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.

blunderbuss (third-person singular simple present blunderbusses, present participle blunderbussing, simple past and past participle blunderbussed)

1. (transitive) To shoot with a blunderbuss.

• “Blunderbuss” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN.

• blunderbuss on Wikipedia.Wikipedia