| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| blunderbuss |
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| SYLLABICATION: | blun·der·buss |
| PRONUNCIATION: | bl n d r-b s |
| NOUN: | 1. A short musket of wide bore and flaring muzzle, formerly used to scatter shot at close range. 2. A person regarded as clumsy and stupid. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Alteration of Dutch donderbus : donder, thunder (from Middle Dutch doner; see (s)ten - in Appendix I) + bus, gun (from Middle Dutch busse, tube, from Latin buxis, box; see box1).
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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