blunderbuss

English

WOTD – 7 December 2012, 7 December 2014

A flintlock blunderbuss

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈblʌn.dɚˌbʌs/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: blun‧der‧buss

Noun

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^[1], Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 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.

   • June 1942, Carl G. Erich, “Flintlock Blunderbuss”, in Popular Science‎^[2]:

     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^[3], Gun Digest Books, →ISBN, page 764:

     The blunderbuss never gained great favor in the American colonies or early United States.

Translations

old style of firearm with a distinctive large opening at the muzzle

• Armenian: բլանբերզում (blanberzum)
• Catalan: trabuc (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雷筒 (léitǒng), 雷管 (zh) (léiguǎn)

• Danish: espingol c
• Dutch: donderbus
• Esperanto: blunderbuzo
• Finnish: väkipyssy
• French: tromblon (fr) m, espingole (fr) f
• Galician: trabuco m
• Georgian: მუშკეტი (mušḳeṭi)
• German: Espingole f, Donnerbüchse (de) f (archaic)
• Greek: τρομπόνι (el) n (trompóni)
• Ido: eskopeto (io), funelofusilo (io)
• Indonesian: pemuras (id)
• Italian: spingarda f, trombone (it) m
• Japanese: ラッパ銃 (rappa jū)
• Korean: 나팔총 (napalchong)
• Malay: pemuras
• Norwegian: muskedunder
• Polish: garłacz (pl) m, gardłacz m; szturmak (pl) m, tromblon m
• Portuguese: bacamarte (pt)
• Russian: мушкето́н (ru) m (mušketón)
• Spanish: trabuco (es) m
• Swedish: muskedunder (sv) n
• Tajik: бештар (tg) (beštar)
• Turkish: alaybozan (tr)
• Ukrainian: мушкетон (mušketon)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Hungarian: mordály (hu), karabély (hu), kurtály, tromblon, muskéta (hu)

Verb

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

1. (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