blunderbuss

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/ (UK); /ˈblʌn.dɚˌbʌs/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Dutch donderbus,^[2][3][4][5] altered by association with blunder,^[4][3][5] the Dutch word being from donder “thunder”, Middle Dutch doner,^[2][4] and obsolete bus “gun”, originally “box, tube”,^[4][3][2] from Middle Dutch busse and ultimately Latin buxis “box”.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A short gun with a large bore, firing many balls or slugs at close range without exact aim (1654).^[6][3][4]

Semantic evolution

The weapon's flaring muzzle made it easy to load and to spread shot;^[3][5] the folk-etymological blunder fitted a gun that hit without careful aim.^[6][4] The name was transferred to people: first a blustering noisy talker, then (1685) a blundering fellow.^[6] A rare sense “a blunder; trouble” is recorded from 1726.^[6]

Timeline

• 1654 – a short, wide-bored gun.^[6][3]
• 1685 – a blundering fellow.^[6]
• 1726 – a blunder; trouble (rare, obsolete).^[6]
• 1870 – verb, to shoot with a blunderbuss.^[6]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A short, muzzle-loading musket with a wide bore and flaring muzzle, used to scatter shot at close range.
2. A clumsy, blundering or insensitive person.

Related words

• thunder
• blunder
• harquebus
• box

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
5. ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g h Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press