''blunderbuss'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260313192153-00-⌔

blunderbuss - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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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.
  • ✤ 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.¹
  • ✤ One of the most picturesque of the old flintlock guns is the blunderbuss, which was often carried by coach guards for protection against highwaymen.²
  • ✤ The blunderbuss never gained great favor in the American colonies or early United States.³

Verb

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

• (transitive) To shoot with a blunderbuss.

Etymology

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈblʌn.dəˌbʌs/
• (General American) IPA: /ˈblʌn.dɚˌbʌs/
• Audio (General American): 🔊
• Audio (Australian): 🔊
• Hyphenation: blun‧der‧buss

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

1. 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: ↩

2. June 1942, Carl G. Erich, “Flintlock Blunderbuss”, in Popular Science ‎${}^{[2]}$: ↩

3. 2007, Norm Flayderman, Flayderman’s Guide to Antique American Firearms ‎${}^{[3]}$, Gun Digest Books, →ISBN, page 764: ↩