dumdum
nounEtymology A reduplication of the adjective dumb, spelled in a "dumb" way (eye dialect).
dumdum
nounEtymology From Dum Dum, a city in India where the type of bullet was developed, from Hindi दम दम (dam dam) (Bengali দমদম (domodom)), from Hindi दमदमा (damadmā, “tenaille, a raised mound or battery”).
1
A soft-nosed or hollow point bullet, or a lead bullet incised on the tip with a cross, which expands on impact to cause a greater than normal wound or impact site.
- He related to us how the savages make bullets from the heart of a very hard wood cured by a special process. These bullets are only effectual when fired from a short range, and when they lodge in the flesh they explode like dumdum bullets.March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine, page 267:
- 'The gunman got away without difficulty. You can imagine how they kicked themselves when they saw the gun. Mathis gave me this bullet to show you what you escaped. The nose has been cut with a dum-dum cross.'1953, Ian Fleming, “'A Whisper of Love, A Whisper of Hate'”, in Casino Royale, London: Pan Books, published 1955, page 96: