BLUNDER BUSS (a corruption of the Dutch donder, thunder, and the Dutch bus; cf. Ger. BUchse, a box or tube, hence a thunder-box or gun); perverted in form after blunder (perhaps with some allusion to its blind or random firing), 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. It was used effectively in the defense of narrow passages. Sometimes made of brass and causing a very loud report. The word is also used by analogy to describe a blundering and random person or talker.