blunderbuss
View all »Definitions (6)
American Heritage Dictionary (2)
- noun A short musket of wide bore and flaring muzzle, formerly used to scatter shot at close range.
- noun A person regarded as clumsy and stupid.
Century Dictionary (2)
GNU Webster's 1913 (1)
WordNet (1)
Elsewhere on the web
View all » Examples
- The gentleman in the coach pulled out a blunderbuss, but Doyle soon quelled him by clapping a pistol to his nose, telling him that if he stirred hand or foot he was a dead man. — Lives Of The Most Remarkable Criminals Who have been Condemned and Executed
- He saw a blunderbuss, a musket with a shortened barrel, pointed at him. — A Place Called Freedom
- This was a task for all hands, and after much labour we got the boats into safe positions among the rocks and made fast the painters to big boulders. — The Greatest Survival Stories Ever Told
- I unhesitatingly predict, Inspector, that if you search Mills's flat you'll find some kind of smoothbore gun, maybe a blunderbuss or even a shotgun. — Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine
- The damned sword was stuck. — Sharpe's Gold
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View all »Etymologies (3)
American Heritage Dictionary (1)
- Alteration of Dutch donderbus : donder, thunder (from Middle Dutch doner; see (s)tenə- in Indo-European roots) + bus, gun (from Middle Dutch busse, tube, from Latin buxis, box; see box1).
Century Dictionary (1)
GNU Webster's 1913 (1)
WordNet
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Pronunciations
/ (blŭnˈdər-bŭsˌ)/
ahd pronounces "blunderbuss"
by
American Heritage Dictionary