A dud is in general something that fails to function in the way it is intended to. In a military context the word is often used to refer to an

ammunition Ammunition, also known as ammo, is the material fired, scattered, dropped, or detonated from any weapon or weapon system. The term includes both expendable weapons (e.g., bombs, missiles, grenades, land mines), and the component parts of oth ...

round or

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An ex ...

that fails to fire or detonate as expected. Poorly designed devices (for example,

improvised explosive device An improvised explosive device (IED) is a bomb constructed and deployed in ways other than in conventional warfare, conventional military action. It may be constructed of conventional military explosives, such as an artillery shell, attached t ...

s (IEDs), shoddy workmanship at the munitions factory, over-complicated fuses, and small devices), have higher chances of being duds. During the

Continuation War The Continuation War, also known as the Second Soviet–Finnish War, was a conflict fought by Finland and Nazi Germany against the Soviet Union during World War II. It began with a Finnish declaration of war on 25 June 1941 and ended on 19 ...

1941-1944, Finns estimated up to 20% to 30% of all

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

shells would be duds. Duds are still dangerous, and can explode if handled. They must be deactivated and disposed of carefully. In war-torn areas, many curious children have been injured or killed from tampering with such devices. The variation absolute dud describes a

nuclear weapon A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear exp ...

that fails to explode.DOD Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms
/ref> (A nuclear weapon which does explode, but does not achieve its expected power, is termed a fizzle.)

Etymology

The term descends from the

Middle English Middle English (abbreviated to ME) is a form of the English language that was spoken after the Norman Conquest of 1066, until the late 15th century. The English language underwent distinct variations and developments following the Old English pe ...

''dudde'', originally meaning worn-out or ragged clothing, and is a cognate of ''duds'' (i.e., "clothing") and ''dowdy''. Eventually ''dud'' became a general pejorative for something useless, including ammunition. The word's use is attested from 1355.

References

{{reflist Ammunition

Etymology

See also

References