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Blunderbuss

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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• Blunderbuss
Encyclopedias
1911 Encyclopedia Britannica
• Blunderbuss

(a corruption of the Dutch Bonder, thunder, and the Dutch bus; cf. Ger. Biichse, a box or tube, hence a thunder-box or gun), an obsolete muzzle-loading firearm with a bell-shaped muzzle. Its calibre was large so that it could contain many balls or slugs, and it was intended to be fired at a short range, so that some of the charge was sure to take effect. The word is also used by analogy to describe a blundering and random person or talker.