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 (General American): (file)
Audio (General Australian): (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^[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)

(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.