blunderbuss 
Blunderbuss. Armory, Tower of London. 
without exact aim. It has been long obsolete 
in civilized countries. 2. A stupid, blunder- 
ing person. 
blunderer (blun'der-er), n. [< ME. "blunderer, 
or blunt warkere [worker]" (Prompt. Parv.), 
< blunderen, blondren, blunder, v.] One who 
blunders, (a) One who flounders about blindly or 
bunglingly in his work: as, "meer Blunderers in that 
Atomick Physiology," Cudworth. (N. E. D.) (b) One 
who, through carelessness or want of capacity, makes 
gross mistakes. 
blunderhead (blun'der-hed), n. [< blunder + 
head. Cf. dunderhead.] A stupid fellow; one 
who blunders. 
This thick-skulled blunderhead. Sir R. L' Estrange. 
blunderingly (bluu'der-ing-li), adv. In a blun- 
dering manner; by mistake. 
602 
From the back the shore of Sicily curves with delicately 
indented bays toward Messina : then come the straits, 
and the blunt mass of the Calabriau mountains terminat- 
ing Italy at Spartivento. 
J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 204. 
4. Rough in manner or speech ; rude ; unpol- 
ished; hence, abrupt in address or manner; 
plain-spoken ; unceremonious : applied to per- 
sons. 
I am no orator, as Brutus is ; 
But, as you know me all, a plain blunt man. 
Shak., J. C., iii. 2. 
Tliou'rt honest, blunt, and rude enough, o' conscience. 
Ford, Lover's Melancholy, iv. 2. 
6. Plain; plain-spoken; unceremonious or un- 
conventional ; direct; free from circumlocu- 
tion : as, blunt truths ; a blunt bearing. 
In blunt terms, can you play the sorcerer ? Coleridge. 
To his blunt manner and to his want of consideration 
for the feelings of others he owed a much higher reputa- 
tion for sincerity than he at all deserved. 
Macaulay, Hist. Eng., vi. 
6. Hard to penetrate. [Rare.] 
I find my heart hardened and blunt to new impressions. 
Pope. 
7t. Faint. 
blush 
scure or sully (a thing) with something which 
i from its fairness or 1 
The tyro who had so blunderingly botched the business. 
T. Hook, Gilbert Gurney, I. iii. 
Reckless perversions of meaning, whether intentionally 
or blunderingly made. N. A. Ren., CXXIII. 205. 
Such a burre mygt make myn herte blunt. 
Alliterative Poeins (ed. Morris), i. 176. 
= Syn, 4. Brusk, bluff, uncivil, rude, uncpurteous. 
II. n. If. A blunt sword for fencing; a foil. 
blunge (blunj), v. t. ; pret. and pp. blunged, ppr. 2. A needle of a grade shorter and less sharply 
blunging. [Appar. a popular formation, after pointed than a sharp. See needle. 3. [Slang, 
plunge, with ref. to the plunging action of the and perhaps of different origin.] Money ; ready 
instrument used.] To mix (clay) with a blun- money. 
? er - "Well, how goes it?" said one. "I have been the 
blunger (blun'jer), it. [< blunge + -erl. Cf. rounds. The blunt's going like the ward-pump." 
plunger.] An instrument used for mixing clay Disraeli, Coningsby, ix. 
in potteries. It is shaped like a shovel, but has a blunt (blunt), v. [< blunt, a.] I. trans. 1. 
larger blade, and a cross-handle by which it is wielded. To make blunt, as an edge or point ; dull the 
The name ta also sometimes given to different varieties of edge or point of, as a knife or bodkin, by making 
; pug 
blunging (blun'jing), n. [Verbal n. of blunge, 
v.] The process of mixing clay in potteries. 
The proper amount of the clay and the necessary quantity 
of water are placed in a trough, and mixed with a blun- 
ger, until reduced to a homogeneous mass. In large pot- 
teries this work is sometimes done by the machine called 
a pug-mill. 
it thicker. 
A less deadly sword, of which he carefully blunted the 
point and edge. Macaulay, Addison. 
intrans. To blench 
Jamieson. 
tion of 
blink; turn aside. 
II. trans. To spoil; mismanage. 
[Scotch.] 
blunk 2 (blungk), n. [Cf. blunket.] In plural, 
linen or cotton cloths for printinir; calicos. 
[Scotch.] 
Knowledge neither blunts the point of the lance, nor 
weakens the arm that wields a knightly sword. 
Ticknor, Span. Lit., I. 334. 
2. To weaken or deaden, as appetite, desire, 
or power of the mind ; impair the force, keen- 
ness, or susceptibility of. 
Blunt not his love. Shak., 2 Hen. IV., iv. 4. 
To blunt or break her passion. 
Tennyson, Lancelot and Elaine. 
II. intrans. To become blunt : as, the blade 
blunts easily. 
blunkeri (blung'ker) K blunW v II + Wtfcead (blunt'hed), n. An East Indian ser- 
-eri.] A bungler; one who spoils everything P 6 ' Am ^yeephalus boa, of the family Coin- 
lie meddles with. [Scotch.] ' ^ ldce and subfamily Lcptognatlurue, of Java, 
Borneo, etc. 
Dunbos is naemair a gentleman than the blunker that's Klnn+incr frilim'tint^ i fVoi-Viol-r, f ; ; * 
biggit the bonnie house doun in the howm. DiUnting (Wun ting), . [Verbal n. of blunt, 
Scott, Guy Mannering, iii. *'] * Tn e act of dulling. 2. Something 
blunker 2 (blung'ker), n. [< bluntf + 
calico-printer. [Scotch.] 
blunkett, a. and n. [Early mod. E. also blon- 
^ that dulls or blunts. [Rare.] 
Not impediments or bluntings, but rather as whetstones, 
to set an edge on our desires. 
Somewhat blunt. 
i-nes), n. [< bluntish + 
i of bluntness. 
Our bloncket liveryes bene all to sadde Tempered with an honest bluntishness. 
Spenser, Shep.'cal., May. Wood ' **g> Oxon. (ed. 1815), II. 582. 
II. n. A kind of cloth; apparently the same bluntly (blunt'li), adv. If. Stupidly . 2. With- 
ket, bloncket, blancket, < ME. blanket (a.), blun- vi t - , 
ket, also plunket, plonkcte (n.), appar. < OF D * unTlls 5 
blanquet, var. of btonehet, dim. of blanc, white: ^ m ^ M D1U w ' -.- v, 
see blanket, which is thus a doublet of blunket.] Dluntishness (blun tish-n 
I. a. Gray; grayish or light-blue. *"** A sll ght degree o 
as blanket, 1. 
. 
out sharpness or tenuity; obtusely: as, bluntly 
, 
blunt (blunt), a. and . [< ME. blunt, blont, of serrate. 3. In a blunt manner; abruptly; 
an edge or point, dull, not sharp ; of manner, 
rude; of mind, dull, stupid, blind; prob. < AS. 
*blunt, found in the deriv. Blunta, a man's name 
(cf. the mod. E. surnames Blunt, Blount). The 
sense of 'dull, stupid,' appears to be the orig. 
one (see the quotation from the Omnium), 
pointing to a connection with Icel. blunda = 
Sw. blunda = Dan. blunde, doze, slumber. Cf. 
J'Mwrfer, and the sense of blunt in the quotation 
edge, 
without delicacy, or the usual forms of civil- 
ity; in an abrupt, offhand, or curt manner; 
without circumlocution : as, to tell a man some- 
m , aim e sense or muni in tne quota 
from the Prompt. Parv. under blunderer.] 
a. 1. Obtuse, thick, or dull, as an angle, e< 
Fathers are 
Won by degrees, not bluntly as our masters 
Or wronged friends are. 
Dekker and Ford, Witch of Edmonton, i. 1. 
(blunt'nes), n. [< blunt + -ness.] 
The state or quality of being blunt, (o) Want of 
sharpness; dullness; obtuseness. ()/) Plainness, direct- 
ness, or abruptness of address ; want of ceremor ' 
To keep up Friendship, there must be little Addresses 
and Applications, whereas Bluntnest spoils it quickly. 
Selden, Table-Talk, p. 23. 
or point; having an obtuse, thick, or dull edge llers ; rudeness of manner or address: as, "hon 
or point, as a foil, sword, pencil, etc.- not "***'" Dr y aen; "Muntness of speech," Boyle. 
sharp or acute. "^ * ^"^ --*- ! - ^-- ---- ' 
No doubt the murtherous knife was dull and blunt, 
iill it was whetted on thy stone-hard heart 
Shak., Richard III., iv. 4. blunt-witted (blunt'wif'ed), a. [< blunt + 
An individual act of wrong sometimes gives a sharp ""'* + -ed 2 . Cf.ME. "blunt of wytte," Prompt. 
to a blunt dagger. O. W. Holmes, Emerson, xiii. Parv.] Dull ; stupid. 
2. Dull in understanding; slow of discernment. 
Unnwis mann iss bluniit and blind 
Blunt-witted lord, ignoble in demeanour ! 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iii. 2. 
iff herrtess eghe sihhthe (of heart's eyesight ] blur (bier), v. ; pret. and pp. blurred, ppr. blur- 
rt==rs^a^ S*5fe5i6355 
o rvuj. *-. * T_ cuiduo , ueucuteu Luriu ui oicttr. early mod. J^. 
.Obtuse ; free from sharp angularities, pro- bkre (see Weorl), but it may be an independent 
formation. Ct. bio fl, blotch!] I. trans. 1. To ob- 
jections, or corners. 
The usually mirrored surface of the river was blurred 
by an infinity of raindrops. Hau'thorne, Old Manse, I. 
2. To sully; stain; blemish: as, to blur one's 
reputation. 
Never yet did base dishonour blur our name, 
But with our sword we wip'd away the blot. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., iv. 1. 
3. To obscure without quite effacing; render 
indistinct ; confuse and bedim, as the outlines 
of a figure. 
One low light betwixt them burn'd, 
Blurr'd by the creeping mist. 
Tennyson, Guinevere. 
4. To dim the perception or susceptibility of ; 
make dull or insensible to impression : as, blur- 
red eyesight; to blur the judgment. 
Her eyes are blurred with the lightning's glare. S. Drake. 
To blur out, to efface. 
We saw forked flashes once and again . . . lighting up 
the valleys for a moment, and leaving the darkness blacker 
... as the storm blurred out the landscape forty miles 
away. J. A. Symonds, Italy and Greece, p. 228. 
To blur over, to obscure by a blur; put out of sight. 
II. intrans. To make blurs in writing. 
blur (bier), n. [< blur, v.] 1. A smudge or 
smear, such as that made by brushing writing 
or painting before it is dry; a blot which par- 
tially defaces or obscures. 2. Figuratively, 
a blot, stain, or injury affecting character, rep- 
utation, and the like. 
Her raillyng sette a greate blurre on myne honestie and 
good name. Udall, tr. of Erasmus, Luke xviii. 
These blurs are too apparent in his Life. 
Milton, Reformation in Eng., i. 
3. A blurred condition; a dim, confused ap- 
pearance; indistinctness. 
The eye learns to discriminate colors, and shades of 
color, where at first there was only a vague blur of feeling. 
G. H. Lewes, Probs. of Life and Mind, II. ii. 10. 
blurry (bler'i), a. [< blur, n., + -yl.] Full of 
blurs ; confused and indistinct. 
blurt (blert), v. [= Sc. blirt (see blirt) ; appar. 
imitative, with the initial sound as in blow 1 , 
blast, blask, bluster, etc., and the final sound 
as in spurt, spirt, squirt, etc.] I. trans. 1. To 
utter suddenly or inadvertently; divulge un- 
advisedly : commonly with out. 
Others . . . cannot hold, but blurt out those words 
which afterwards they are forced to eat. Hakewill. 
And yet the truth may lose its grace, 
If blurted to a person's face. 
Lloyd, The Nightingale. 
At last to blurt out the broad, staring question of, 
" Madam, will you marry me? " 
Goldsmith, She Stoops to Conquer, ii. 
2f. To treat contemptuously. 
And, I confess, I never was so blurted, 
Nor never so abus'd. 
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, ii. 2. 
To blurt att, to speak contemptuously of ; ridicule. 
None would look on her, 
But cast their gazes on Marina's face ; 
Whilst ours was blurted at. Shak., Pericles, iv. 4. 
II. intrans. 1 . To puff or emit the breath ex- 
plosively as in sleep, or contemptuously as in 
saying "pooh"; puff in scorn or with a con- 
temptuous expression of the lips. 2. To burst 
out weeping. 
blurt (blert), n. [< blurt, v.] A sudden puff or 
emission of the breath, especially in contempt, 
as when saying "pooh." 
blush (blush), v. [< ME. blushen, blnsclten, 
bh/schen, glow, rarely blush, usually look, 
glance, prob. < AS. Mi/scan, bliscan (glossed 
rntilare), glow, = MLG. bloschen, LG. bliisken, 
blush ; cf. AS. *blysian, in comp. ablisian for 
*ablysian, blush (verbal n. dblysung, dblysgung, 
blushing), = MD. blosen, D. blozen = MLG. 
blosen, blush ; connected with AS. blysa, blisa, 
also blysige, a torch, *blys (in comp. bcelblys), a 
flame, = MLG. blus, LG. bluse, a flame, = Sw. 
bloss = Dan. blus, a torch; LG. blusen, set on 
fire, inflame, = Sw. blossa, blaze, = Dan. blusse, 
blaze, flame, blush in the face; from the noun. 
glance ; look. [In these senses only in Middle 
English ; but see blush, n., 1, 2.] 
Tyl on a hyl that I asspyed 
<fc Munched on the burglie, as I fortli ilrened. 
Allil'-mlii'f Poems (ed. Morris), i. 979. 
3. To become red in the face ; redden all over 
the face : especially from modesty, embarrass- 
ment, confusion, or shame. 
Ask him a question, 
He blushes like a girl, and answers little. 
Fletcher, Rule a Wife, i. 1. 
