See Also: Blow Away (Blow Off) - Motor Sports(gambling)
blow(4)(dictionary)
blow(1)(dictionary)
blow(2)(dictionary)
blow(3)(dictionary)
blow-dry(dictionary)
blow(5)(dictionary)
by-blow(dictionary)
fly-blow(dictionary)
blow-by-blow(dictionary)

blow(4) (iou)



blow verb1. , (senses 12d, 19, & non-standard) blowed.

I. Senses connected with the production of an air current.
verb intrans. Of wind, air, etc., or impers. with it: move along, act as an air current. Freq. with the type or strength of wind as compl. OE.
I. Walton Heark how it rains and blows. Oxford English Dictionary It blew a gale. J. Steinbeck The wind blew fierce and strong.
verb intrans. Send a directed air current from the mouth; (of a bellows etc.) produce an air current. OE.
b. Hiss; whistle. ME-M16.
c. Of a whale: eject water and air, spout. L17.
verb trans. Send out by breathing; emit or pass (air); drive, carry, or move by an air current; fig. proclaim, publish. Usu. with adverbs & prepositions of direction. ME.
Dryden Winnow'd Chaff by Western Winds is blown. Sir W. Scott As soon as Richard's return is blown abroad. P. Savage The winds..blow the dead leaves down. J. Herriot He blew smoke pleasurably from his nostrils. A. Price He..blew the dust from it.
verb intrans. Breathe hard, puff, pant; dial. (simply) breathe. LME.
Pope Each spent courser at the chariot blow.
verb intrans. Bluster; boast, brag. Chiefly dial. or US & Austral. colloq. LME.
b. verb trans. Utter, esp. boastfully, angrily, or maliciously. Also foll. by out. LME-L19.
verb trans. Work (bellows); work the bellows of (an organ etc.). LME.
verb trans. Cause to pant, exhaust of breath. Usu. in pass. M17.
Blackwood's Magazine The Russians..were..pretty well blown in the pursuit.
verb intrans. Be driven, carried, or moved by the wind or other air current. Freq. with adverbs & prepositions of direction. M17.
Tennyson Her cap blew off, her gown blew up. W. Cather Her skirts blowing in the wind.
b. verb intrans. & trans. Depart suddenly (from). slang. E20.
E. Linklater He's blown. He's gone up north. R. Macdonald I'm blowing this town tonight.
II. Senses connected with the application of an air current.
verb trans. Make (a wind instrument) sound; slang play jazz on (any instrument). Also, sound (a note, a signal) on (or on, upon, with) a wind instrument. Of a wind instrument: sound (a note, a signal). OE.
Tennyson The belted hunter blew His wreathed bugle-horn. N. Shute The siren blew five blasts.
verb intrans. Of a wind instrument, its blower, or the note etc. produced: sound. Also (slang) play jazz (on any instrument). ME.
Tennyson Let the mournful martial music blow. R. Kipling The bugles blew for dinner. J. Kerouac Everybody in Frisco blew. R. Bolt A pilot's whistle, upon which he will blow.
verb trans. Direct an air current at so as to cool, warm, dry, etc. (also with the effect as compl.) or (with a fire as obj.) to make burn more brightly (also foll. by up). ME.
Shakespeare Venus & Adonis To..blow them dry again. F. Marryat The winter was cold..and he blew his fingers.
b. fig. Inflame, arouse, (feeling). Usu. foll. by up. ME-L18.
verb trans. Swell by an air current; make or shape (a bubble, glass, etc.) by blowing into it. (Foll. by up, out.) LME.
J. Dickey I blew up the air mattresses with a hand pump.
b. Inflate (a person) with pride or vanity. Usu. foll. by up. LME-E18.
c. Enlarge, magnify; exaggerate. Usu. & now only foll. by up. M16.
Punch I blew up the two faces on an epidiascope.
d. Cause (the stomach of an animal) to swell. L18.
e. In pass. Of a food-tin etc.: be swollen by internal gas pressure. L19.
verb trans. Clear (the nose, a pipe, an egg, etc.) by an air current. M16.
verb trans. Scatter, destroy, or send flying by an explosion etc. (freq. with adverbs, esp. up, or with the result as compl.); break into (a safe etc.) with explosives; fig. (colloq.) bungle. Foll. by up also (a) destroy, ruin; (b) colloq. reprove, scold. L16.
Steele One of our Bombs fell into a Magazine..and blew it up. R. Conquest The bridge attributed to Belisarius Is blown. J. Betjeman When mankind Has blown himself to pieces.
b. verb intrans. Be shattered etc. by an explosion, explode, (usu. foll. by up); fig. foll. by up, lose one's temper. L17.
C. Kingsley The mountain had blown up like a barrel of gunpowder. J. Clavell When the magazine blew.
c. verb trans. Produce (a hole etc.) by an explosion etc. L19.
verb trans. Expose, reveal; inform on. (Foll. by up.) Now slang. L16.
b. verb intrans. Act as an informer, reveal a secret. slang. M19.
verb intrans. & trans. Of an electric filament or fuse: melt when overloaded. Also, cause (an electric filament etc.) to melt on overload. Also foll. by out. L19.
J. Raban Every light bulb blows when you switch it on.
verb trans. Fellate. coarse slang. M20.
III. Other senses.
verb trans. Of a fly etc.: deposit eggs on or in; = FLY-BLOW verb 1. L16.
A. Burgess The flies blew the cold beef on the kitchen table.
b. verb trans. & intrans. Deposit (eggs). E17-L18.
verb trans. Curse, confound, damn, (freq. in pass.). Foll. by if with 1st person expr. surprise or as a disclaimer (also foll. by up). slang. L18.
P. Egan Blow me tight if ever I saw such a thing in my life before. Dickens One blowed thing and another.
b. verb intrans. in imper. Damn! E20.
verb trans. Squander, spend (money) recklessly. Also (chiefly US) foll. by in. (Cf. BLUE verb2.) slang. L19.
verb trans. Treat (a person to). US slang. L19.
Phrases: blow a cloud colloq. smoke a pipe. blow a fuse: see FUSE noun2. blow a gasket: see GASKET noun. blow a kiss kiss one's fingers and wave or pretend to blow something from them to a (distant) person. blow a person's brains out shoot a person through the head. blow a person's mind slang cause a person to have drug-induced hallucinations or a similar experience. blow great guns (of wind) blow violently. blow high, blow low US whatever may happen. blow hot and cold vacillate, be inconsistent. blow one's cool slang lose one's composure, become angry or agitated. blow one's own trumpet praise oneself. blow one's top, (N. Amer.) blow one's stack colloq. show great anger. blow sky-high: see SKY noun. blow that for a game of soldiers: see SOLDIER noun. blow the gaff: see GAFF noun3. blow the whistle on draw attention to (something illicit or undesirable), bring to a sharp conclusion, inform on. blow trade: see TRADE noun.
With adverbs & prepositions in specialized senses: blow away slang kill, destroy, defeat. blow in (a) verb phr. trans. (Metallurgy) set (a blast-furnace) in operation; (b) verb phr. intrans. (colloq.) come in unexpectedly; (see also sense 20 above). blow off verb phr. trans. allow (steam etc.) to escape forcibly; fig. get rid of (superfluous energy etc.) in a noisy way. blow on , blow upon discredit, defame, make stale; (see also sense 9 above). blow out (a) verb phr. trans. & intrans. extinguish or be extinguished by blowing; (b) verb phr. trans. (Metallurgy) take (a blast-furnace) out of operation; (c) verb phr. intrans. (of a pneumatic tyre) burst; (see also senses 5b, 12, 16 above). blow over pass off without threatened consequences. blow up verb phr. intrans. (of a wind) increase in force; arise, come to notice; (see also senses 11, 12, 14, 15, 19 above). blow upon: see blow on above.
Comb.: blow-away adjective likely to be blown away by the wind etc.; blow-back the action or process of blowing back, esp. (a) of pressure in a boiler or internal-combustion engine; (b) of gunpowder that has not burned completely; (c) of the slide or breech-block of some firearms; blow-ball the globular seed-head of a dandelion etc.; blowdown (a) a gust of wind down a chimney; (b) N. Amer. a tree blown down by the wind; the blowing down of trees by the wind; (c) the removal of solids or liquids from a container or pipe using pressure; blow-drier a blower used in blow-drying; blow-dry verb & noun (a) verb trans. arrange (hair) while drying it with a hand-held blower; (b) noun an act or instance of blow-drying hair; blowfish (a popular name for) any of several fishes which inflate their bodies when frightened etc.; blowfly any of various flies of the family Calliphoridae, which deposit their eggs on meat and carcasses; a bluebottle, a meat-fly; blowhard adjective & noun (colloq.) (a person who is) boastful; blow-hole (a) a hole for breathing through; the nostril of a whale etc.; (b) a hole formed by escaping air, steam, etc.; (c) a vent in a tunnel etc. for the escape of steam, gas, etc.; blow-job coarse slang an act or instance of fellatio or cunnilingus; blowlamp a lamp or torch for directing a very hot flame on a selected spot; blow-off adjective & noun (of or pertaining to) the removal of water or sediment from a boiler by the force of steam; fig. an outburst; blow-out (a) colloq. a large meal; (b) dial. & US an outbreak of anger, a row; (c) (orig. US) an isolated hill with a crater-like top created by the wind; a hollow eroded by the wind; (d) a bursting of a pneumatic tyre; (e) a rapid uncontrolled uprush of fluid from an oil well; blow-out preventer: see PREVENTER 3; blowpipe (a) a tube for heating flame by blowing air or other gas into it; (b) a tube used in glass-blowing; (c) a tube for propelling arrows or darts by blowing; blowtorch = blowlamp above; blow-up (a) an explosion; fig. an outburst of anger, a row; (b) the vessel in which raw sugar is dissolved; (c) colloq. a photographic enlargement.