Forms: 5 Sc. and north. blaw, 6 bloe, 6–7 blowe, 6– blow. [First found in 15th c., the earliest instances being Sc. and north. Eng. with form blaw. Origin doubtful.
(The etymology of blow has been naturally sought in the stem of the OTeut. vb. *bleuwan, Goth. bliggwan to beat (which is not related to L. fligĕre), in OHG. bliuwan, MHG. bliuwen, mod.G. bläuen ‘to beetle, batter, beat, drub’ (whence bläuel a beetle), MDu. and mod.Du. blouwen ‘to beat, thrash, drub,’ now esp. ‘to brake or swingle flax or hemp’ (whence blouwel a brake for flax). The OE. cognate would have been *bléowan, but of this no trace is found, and it is not easy on any theory to understand its giving rise to a substantive in the 15th c. without ever appearing itself. It is still less likely that an English substantive could be formed from the Du. blouwen or its Ger. equivalent, when there is no such substantive in these langs. (‘Du. blowe’ in J. is a figment.)
Another suggestion which suits the form and accounts also for the early Sc. and north. English variant blaw, is that this is the same word as BLOW sb.2, or at least, like it, derived from BLOW v.1 The difficulty is, that, as to the sense, early uses of the word do not indicate any such origin, while historically, BLOW sb.2 (in its own undoubted senses) is of later appearance. The analogy of Fr. soufflet, also, in which a word for ‘a blow with the flat of the hand’ arises out of the vb. souffler ‘to blow wind,’ though striking at first sight, proves on examination of the history of soufflet to be merely superficial.)]
1. A stroke, esp. a firm stroke; a violent application of the fist or of any instrument to an object.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 195. Bot I gif hym a blaw my hart wille brist.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, I. 348. He gat a blaw, thocht he war lad or lord, That proferryt hym ony lychtlynes.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXIII. xviii. Upon the side I gave him such a blow That I right nere did him overthrow.
1555. Fardle Facions, II. xii. 279. The Bishoppe [in confirming] … giueth hym a blowe on the lefte chieke.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. i. 56. Well strooke, there was blow for blow.
1611. Bible, Ps. xxxix. 10. I am consumed by the blowe of thine hand.
1643. Burroughes, Exp. Hosea, iv. (1652), 66. It is not the last blow of the axe that fells the oak.
1754. Richardson, Grandison, IV. iv. 28. Before hard blows are struck, that will leave marks.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., II. § 17. 317. A loud dull sound, like that produced by a heavy blow.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., xiii. 178. He felled him with one blow.
b. fig. Cf. ‘stroke.’
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vi. 225. A most poore man, made tame to Fortunes blows.
1609. Ev. Woman in Hum., II. i. in Bullen, O. Pl., IV. Ye are a wag, Flavia, but talk and you must needes have a parting blowe.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, 97. The hard blows which the great man had given me.
1883. Froude, Short Stud., IV. I. ix. 100. A direct blow at the authority of the young king.
2. fig. A severe disaster, a sudden and painful calamity; especially as sustained or felt by the sufferer, a sudden and severe shock.
1678. N. Wanley, Wonders, V. i. § 94. 467/2. The Hungarians … received from the Turks that terrible blow.
1841. Macaulay, in Trevelyan, Life, II. ix. 130. His death will be a terrible blow.
1847. L. Hunt, Jar Honey (1848), Pref. 10. They have never recovered the blow given them by the invidious heaviness of the Puritans.
3. ‘An act of hostility.’ (J.) Usually in pl. blows = ‘combat, fighting, war,’ in the phrases to be at blows, come (or go), fall to blows, exchange blows.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., II. iii. 81. Come, leaue your drinking, and fall to blowes. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., II. vi. 44. When Caesar and your Brother were at blowes.
1647. W. Browne, Polex., II. 226. Wee … wished for nothing else then to be at blowes with our enemies.
1651. Hobbes, Leviath., I. v. 19. Their controversie must either come to blowes, or be undecided.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 322. Too young to have themselves exchanged blows with the cuirassiers of the Parliament. Ibid., 556. There was reason to fear that the two parties would come to blows.
4. Phrases.
a. At a blow, or at one blow: by one stroke; fig. by one vigorous act; suddenly; at once.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., V. i. 50. I had rather chop this Hand off at a blow.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 365. To redeem his Honour at a Blow.
1837. Dickens, Pickw., xi. What it is at one blow to be deserted by a lovely and fascinating creature.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 42. Each had slain his brother at a blow.
b. fig. To strike a blow: to make an attack, take vigorous action. So, To strike the first blow. Without striking a blow: without a struggle.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., II. 211. A good blow might be struck here.
1812. Byron, Ch. Har., II. lxxvi. Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., I. 261. But neither side dared to strike the first blow. Ibid., 542. Deputies, without whose consent no great blow could be struck.
5. Comb., as blow-giver, -reach, -striking.
1548. Udall, etc., Erasm. Par. John xviii. p. cx. (R.). Our Lorde Iesus might … haue letted this blowgeuer.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., 54. To submit themselves willinglie … without blowe-striking.
1871. E. C. G. Murray, Member for Paris, II. 17. [He] was within blow-reach of them.
¶ This may have some association with BLOW sb.2
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., I. ii. 209. And do you tell me of a womans tongue? That giues not halfe so great a blow to heare, As wil a Chesse-nut in a Farmers fire.
