A loud noise or explosion, or in distilling, the lees or sediment left from a previous distillation; also used as slang for a stupid person.
From Dutch 'donder,' meaning 'thunder.' In distilling contexts, it may derive from different roots. The term has multiple etymologies depending on the context and region of use, reflecting its varied meanings across English-speaking areas.
Dunder is a perfect example of how specific occupational jargon survives long after most people stop doing that work—distillery workers' term for leftover sediment persists in industrial contexts even as distilling becomes less common. It's the linguistic equivalent of archaeological layers, with old occupational words buried in our vocabulary.
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