BLUNDERBUSS (a corruption of the Dutch dander, 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.
End of Article: BLUNDERBUSS (a corruption of the Dutch dander, thunder, and the Dutch bus; cf. Ger. Biichse, a box or tube, hence a thunder-box or gun) |
|
[back] COUNT VON LEONHARD BLUMENTHAL (1810–1900) |
[next] JOHN HENRY BLUNT (1823–1884) |
There are no comments yet for this article.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.
Links to articles and home page are encouraged.