Blow v.¹

Pa. t. blew. Pa. pple. blown (also in sense 29 blowed). Forms: 1 bláwan, 2–3 blawen, (2 blauwen), blouwen, 3 bloawen, 5 blowen, blowyn, 3–7 blowe, 5– blow; (north.) 3–4 blau, 4–6 blawe, 3– blaw. Pa. t. 1 bleów, bléw, 2–3 bleu, 4 blwe, bleeȝ, bleȝ, 3–5 blu, 5 blue, 4–6 blewe, 4– blew. Also 4 blowide, 7 blowd, blowede, 6– blowed. Pa. pple. 1 bláwen, blouen, 4–7 blowen, 6–7 blowne, 7– blown; also 4 y-blowe, blowun, blowe, 4–6 i-blowe, 7 bloun; north. 3 blaun, 4 blawun, 4–5 blawen, 6 blawne, blawin, blauen, blaw, 6– blawn. Also 6– blowed. [OE. bláwan, pa. t. bléow, pple. bláwen, elsewhere as a strong vb. only in OHG. blâ(h)an (pa. pple. blâhan, blân):—Goth. type *blaian, *baiblô, OTeut. ? *blǽjan, cogn. w. L. flā-re to blow. (In OHG. this, like other verbs with ai in Gothic, passed into the weak conj. blâen, blâhen, blâjen, blâwen, blân, MHG. blæjen, blæwen, blæn, Ger. blähen.) In OE. only in a few senses: see 1, 2, 14; but an immense development of sense and constructions has taken place in middle and modern Eng., and in later times distinct senses have influenced each other, or run together, in a manner difficult to exhibit in a linear series.]

  I.  properly. To produce a current of air; to set in motion with a current of air.

  * intransitively.

  1.  intr. The proper verb naming the motion or action of the wind, or of an aerial current. Sometimes with subject it, as ‘it blows hard,’ and often with complement, as ‘it blew a gale, a hurricane.’ To blow great guns: to blow a violent gale. To blow up: to rise, increase in force of blowing.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Luke xii. 55. Þonne ʓe ʓeseoð suðan blawan.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 167. Lutel he hit scaweð … hu biter wind þer blaweð.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 124. Ȝif a wind bloweð a lutel touward us.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 532. Wynd þat blaws o loft.

1382.  Wyclif, Ecclus. xliii. 22. The cold northerne wind bleeȝ [1388 blew].

1530.  Palsgr., 130. Il uente, it bloweth.

1580.  Baret, Alv., B 829. I turne sayle that way as the winde bloweth.

1653.  Walton, Angler, 208. Heark how it rains and blows.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 549. All the Weste Allies of stormy Boreas blow.

1785.  Burns, Cotter’s Sat. Nt., ii. November chill blaws loud wi’ angry sugh.

1793.  Smeaton, Edystone L., § 313. It blowed very hard, especially on the night of lighting.

1802.  Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), III. 166. Straws and feathers … show which way the wind blows.

1840.  Marryat, Poor Jack, x. The gale had blown up again.

1854.  H. Miller, Sch. & Schm. (1858), 14. It soon began to blow great guns.

  2.  To send from the mouth a current of air (stronger than that produced by ordinary breathing); to produce a current of air in any way, e.g., said of bellows. (Cf. sense 7.)

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., John xx. 22. Þa bleow he on hi and cwæð to him under-foð haline gast.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 12540. He … hent his hand and bleu þar-in.

1382.  Wyclif, Ezek. xxi. 31. In fier of my wodnes Y shal blowe in thee.

1526.  Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 263 b. She waueth with her wynges and so bloweth, that by her mouynge she engendreth an hete in them.

1572.  Gascoigne, Wks. (1587), 1. My lights and lungs like bellows blow.

a. 1620.  J. Dyke, Sel. Serm. (1640), 63. When the word is preached, then the Bellowes blowes to kindle the fire.

1646.  Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 176. Serrous or jarring motion like that which happeneth while we blow on the teeth of a combe through paper.

1715.  Desaguliers, Fires Impr., 42. I blowed upon the Thermometer.

a. 1856.  Longf., Vill. Blacksmith, 14. You can hear his bellows blow.

  b.  To blow hot and cold: (fig.) to be or to do one thing at one time, another at another; to be inconsistent or vacillating. (In reference to one of Æsop’s Fables.)

1577.  trans. Bullinger’s Decades (1592), 176. One which out of one mouth, doeth blowe both hoat and colde.

1638.  Chillingw., Relig. Prot., I. ii. § 113. 95. These men can blow hot and cold out of the same mouth to serve severall purposes.

1690.  W. Walker, Idiom. Anglo-Lat., 61. With the same breath to blow hot and cold.

[1694.  R. L’Estrange, Fables, ccxliii. 211 (J.). Says the Satyr, if you have gotten a Trick of Blowing Hot and Cold out of the same Mouth, I have e’en Done with ye.]

1866.  Motley, Dutch Rep., V. v. 750. Being constantly ordered ‘to blow hot and cold with the same breath.’

  † 3.  To make a blowing sound; to hiss, whistle.

1340.  Ayenb., 32. Þe childe þet ne dar guo his way vor þe guos þet blauþ.

c. 1420.  Avow. Arth., 64. Alle wrothe wex that sqwyne, Blu, and brayd vppe his bryne.

1535.  Coverdale, Zech. x. 8. I wil blowe [1611 hisse] for them & gather them together.

  4.  To breathe hard, pant, puff. To blow out; to be winded. (Cf. sense 8.)

c. 1440.  Erle Tolous, 442, in Ritson, Met. Rom., III. 111. The thrydd fledd, and blewe owt faste, The erle ovyrtoke hym at the laste.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XII. xii. 234. At sic debait that bayth thai pant and blaw.

1530.  Palsgr., 458/2. He bloweth lyke a horse that came newe from galoppyng.

1608.  Armin, Nest Ninn. (1842), 23. They puft and they blowede, they ran as swifte as a pudding would creepe.

1718.  Pope, Iliad, II. 465. Each spent courser at the chariot blow.

1847.  Tennyson, Princess, V. 20. The huge bush-bearded Barons heaved and blew.

  b.  To breathe; to take breath. dial. To blow short: (of a horse) to be broken-winded.

c. 1440.  York Myst., xxxi. 142. Nowe gois a-bakke both, and late þe boy blowe.

1523.  Fitzherb., Husb., § 84. Pursy is a disease in an horses bodye, and maketh hym to blowe shorte.

1647.  Ward, Simp. Cobler, 36. They gave him such straynes as made him blow short ever since.

1786.  Burns, To Auld Mare. Thou never lap, and sten’t an’ breastit, Then stood to blaw.

1860.  Holland, Miss Gilbert, ii. 29. I’ll sit here and blow, till he comes around.

  5.  Of whales, etc.: To eject water and air from the ‘blow-holes,’ before taking in fresh air; to spout.

1725.  Dudley, in Phil. Trans., XXXIII. 261. Once in a Quarter of an Hour … they are observed to rise and blow, spouting out Water and Wind, and to draw in fresh Air.

1779.  Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 128. Many porpoises blowing near us.

1851.  H. Melville, Whale, xlvii. 239. The Sperm Whale blows as a clock ticks.

  6.  To utter loud or noisy breath, to bluster: a. To boast, brag (chiefly dial.); b. To fume, storm, speak angrily (chiefly colloq.)

c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 97. Blouing veynly wiþ fleschli wit.

c. 1420.  Avow. Arth., xxiii. I, Kay, that thou knawes, That owte of tyme bostus and blawus.

1519.  Four Elements, in Hazl., Dodsley, I. 41. Why, man, what aileth thee so to blow?

1789.  Burns, Tam Glen, iii. He brags and he blaws o’ his siller.

1863.  Mrs. C. Clarke, Shaks. Char., x. (1876), 270. He has been blowing and storming about this drum.

1873.  Trollope, Australia, xxv. In the colonies … when a gentleman sounds his own trumpet he ‘blows.’

1878.  H. James, in Cornh. Mag., June, 680. ‘My sister ain’t the best!’ the child declared. ‘She’s always blowing at me.’

  ¶ dial. To smoke a pipe: see 9 b.

  ** causal uses of the preceding.

  7.  Beside the expressions to blow with bellows, and the bellows blow (see 2), one is said to blow the bellows, i.e., to work them so as to make them blow.

c. 1440.  Leg. Rood (1871), 85. Scho blew þe belise ferly fast.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXVI. xxiii. Afrycus Auster made surreccion, Blowyng his bellowes by great occasion.

1577.  Northbrooke, Dicing (1843), 81. Many which lacke armes may worke with their feete, to blowe smithes bellowes.

1880.  Grove, Dict. Mus., II. 577. The four bellows are blown in a manner which we here meet with for the first time.

  † b.  fig. To blow the bellows: to stir up passion, strife, etc. Obs. (Cf. to blow the coals, 17 b.)

1596.  Spenser, F. Q., II. iii. 9. He cast for to … blow the bellowes to his swelling vanity.

a. 1657.  Sir J. Balfour, Ann. Scotl. (1825), II. 263. The bischopes blouing the bellowes, and still craying fyre and suord.

  8.  (causal of 4.) To cause to pant, to put out of breath: usually of horses.

1651.  Davenant, Gondibert, II. xliii. From thence, well blown, he [i.e., Stag] comes to the Relay.

1760.  Hist. Europe, in Ann. Reg., 24/1. They came up five miles on a full trot without being blown.

1771.  P. Parsons, Newmarket, I. 108. How much water, given to a horse before he starts, will blow him.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xii. Move steadily, and do not let the men blow the horses.

1859.  Blackw. Mag., March, 306/1. The Russians … were … pretty well blown in the pursuit.

  *** trans. (with the air, breath, etc., as obj.)

  9.  trans. To breathe out, emit, produce (a current of air, breath, etc.) with the mouth; to give forth by breathing; also to force or cause to pass (a current of air) through, into, upon, by other means. Also fig.

c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 75. Þan deþliche atter · þet þe alde deouel blou on adam. Ibid., 99. [Crist ableow þana halȝa gast ofer þa apostlas].

c. 1375.  Wyclif, Antecrist (Todd), 148. Þei blowen on hem a stynkand breþe. Ibid. (1382), Wisd. xv. 11. That bleȝ [1388 blowide] in to hym a lifli spirit.

1509.  Hawes, Past. Pleas., XXXVI. iii. A fende … Blowyng out fyre.

1591.  Spenser, Bellay’s Ruines Rome, xxvi. Where colde Boreas blowes his bitter stormes.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., VI. I. ii. Good thoughts are blown into a man by God.

1784.  J. Adams, Diary, Wks. 1851, III. 388. If inflammable air were blown through the pipe.

1842.  Longf., Wreck Hesp., 19. He blew a whiff from his pipe.

1866.  Huxley, Phys., iv. (1869), 96. If a pipe be now fitted into the bronchus, and air blown through it.

  b.  To smoke (tobacco); also intr. (dial.) But to blow a cloud is a common figurative expression for to smoke a pipe.

1808.  in Jamieson, To blaw Tobacco; to blaw.

c. 1855.  Hawthorne, Mother Rigby’s Pipe, i. Smoke, puff, blow thy cloud.

  10.  To blow off: (trans.) to allow (steam or the like) to escape forcibly with a blowing noise; also fig. to get rid of (superfluous energy, emotion, etc.) in a noisy way; intr. (for refl.) of steam, gas, etc.: to escape forcibly.

1837.  Marryat, Dog-fiend, xi. The widow … sat … fuming and blowing off her steam.

1866.  Jevons, Coal Quest. (ed. 2), 65. Carburetted gas … is ever liable to blow off and endanger the lives of hundreds of persons.

1884.  Chr. Commonw., 24 Jan., 348/1. Blowing off their superfluous energy in singing and shouting.

  † 11.  To utter: also with out. Most frequently in a bad sense: To utter boastfully, angrily, etc. To blow into one’s ear: to whisper privily. Obs.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, IV. 122. The gret bost that it [pryde] blawis.

c. 1380.  Wyclif, Three Tracts, i. 69. Censuris þat þe fend bloweþ (as ben suspendis and interdicyngis).

c. 1380.  Sir Ferumb., 5421. Þan wax þe Amyral glad … & gan to blowe bost.

c. 1440.  Hylton, Scala Perf. (W. de W., 1494), II. xlii. Blowynge psalmes & louynges to Jhesu.

1549.  Compl. Scot., vi. 38. That samyn sound as thay beystis hed blauen.

a. 1563.  Becon, New Catech., Wks. (1844), 344. He blowed out many furious and unseemly words.

1642.  T. Taylor, God’s Judgem., I. I. xii. 35. Threats were blowne out on every side against the Faithful.

1652.  Cotterell, Cassandra (1676), IV. 61. These things which malitious Roxana blew into Statira’s ears.

  **** trans. To drive or transport by blowing.

  12.  trans. To drive or carry (things) by means of a current of air; also fig. Const. simply, or with preps. or adverbs of direction, as away, down, from, off, to, etc.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 22922. Þof his bodi al war brint, And blaun ouer al þe puder tint.

c. 1300.  K. Alis., 5630. The wynde you may theder blawen, In lesse than in twenty dawen.

1382.  Wyclif, Mal. i. 13. Ȝe han blowe it awey.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1982. [Þai] were blouen to þe brode se in a bir swithe.

1577.  Hanmer, Anc. Eccles. Hist. (1619), 174. The heate of persecution was blowne against vs.

1593.  Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., III. i. 84. Looke, as I blow this Feather from my Face, And as the Ayre blowes it to me againe. Ibid. (1597), 2 Hen. IV., V. iii. 90. Fal. What winde blew you hither, Pistoll? Pist. Not the ill winde which blowes none to good.

1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 217. Winnow’d Chaff by Western Winds is blown.

1712.  Addison, Spect., No. 269, ¶ 7. The Wind … blew down the End of one of his Barns.

1865.  Tylor, Early Hist. Man., iii. 38. What children call ‘blowing a kiss.’

1870.  F. Wilson, Ch. Lindisf., 68. The roof was blown off.

  b.  intr. (for refl.) To be driven or carried by the wind; to move before the wind. Same const.

1842.  Tennyson, Goose, 51. Her cap blew off, her gown blew up. Ibid. (1842), Day-Dream, 141. The hedge broke in, the banner blew.

  c.  To blow over (formerly in perf. to be blown over): (of storms or storm-clouds) to pass over a place without descending upon it; to pass away, come to an end; also fig. of misfortune, danger, etc. Also To blow off in same sense.

1617.  J. Fosbroke, Englands Warn. (1633), 25. When the storm is blown over, they return to their old bias again.

1641.  Smectymnuus, Vind. Answ., § 13. 131. This cloud will soone blow over.

1692.  South, 12 Serm. (1697), I. 564. Do they think that … this dreadfull Sentence [shall] blow off without Execution?

1794.  Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), II. 399. The affair is blown over.

1850.  Alison, Hist. Europe, VIII. liv. § 18. The danger had blown over.

  13.  trans. (fig.) To proclaim, publish, blaze, spread abroad, about, (out obs.), etc.

c. 1205.  Lay., 27021. Þæ king of Peytouwe, har[d] mon iblowen.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, 1139. And her fames wide yblowe.

1513.  Douglas, Æneis (ad fin.), Direction 129. Thy fame is blaw, thy prowes and renoun Dyvulgat ar.

1541.  Act 33 Hen. VIII., xxi. They shal not openly blow it abrode.

1603.  Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 429. These news … being blown out of the campe into the citie.

1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, II. xi. 199. As soon as Richard’s return is blown abroad.

1859.  Tennyson, Guinevere, 151. A rumour wildly blown about.

  II.  To act upon an object, by blowing air into, upon, or at it.

  * To blow a musical instrument.

  14.  trans. To make (a wind-instrument) sound. (Formerly also with up, out.) To blow one’s own trumpet: (fig.) to sound one’s own praises, to brag. b. To sound (a note or blast) on or with an instrument. c. To sound the signal of (an alarm, advance, retreat, etc.) on an instrument. d. Predicated of the instrument.

c. 1000.  Ags. Gosp., Matt. vi. 2. Ne blawe man byman beforan þe.

c. 1200.  Trin. Coll. Hom., 115. Þe bemene drem þe þe engles blewen.

c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, 774. Whan a pipe is blowen sharpe The aire ys twyst with violence.

c. 1450.  Lydg., Mer. Missæ, 171. Pryd gothe beforen And schame comythe aftyr, and blawythe horne.

1490.  Caxton, Eneydos, xlvi. 139. They … blew vp their trompettes for to gyue a sharpe sawte.

1535.  Coverdale, 1 Macc. iii. 54. They blewe out the trompettes.

1611.  Bible, Psalm lxxxi. 3. Blow vp the trumpet in the new Moone. Ibid., Hosea v. 8. Blow yee the cornet in Gibeah.

1842.  Tennyson, Pal. of Art, 63. The belted hunter blew His wreathed bugle-horn.

  b.  c. 1340.  Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1141. Blwe bygly in bugler þre bare mote.

1486.  Bk. St. Albans, E v b. Iij. motis shall ye blaw booth lowde and shill.

c. 1600.  Rob. Hood (Ritson), II. ix. 60. Let me have my beugle horn, And blow but blasts three.

1793.  Burns, Soldier’s Ret., i. When wild war’s deadly blast was blawn.

1843.  Caroline Fox, Jrnls. (1882), II. 12. Though he [Carlyle] has blown so loud a blast.

  c.  c. 1320.  Sir Tristr., I. xlviii. Þe tokening when þai blewe.

c. 1420.  Anturs of Arthure, v. 10. The king blue a rechase.

1552.  Huloet, Blowe the Retreate in battayle.

1561.  Daus, trans. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573), Pref. 5. The Deuill … bloweth the onset.

1634.  Malory’s Arthur (1816), I. 112. Then king Arthur blew the prize, and dight the hart there.

1621.  Bp. Mountagu, Diatribæ, 398. Wee must goe blow the Seeke, and cast about againe. Ibid. (a. 1641), Acts & Mon. (1642), 385. He tels they were Grecians born … where, when, upon what termes, you must, if you will, goe blow the seek.

1805.  Southey, Madoc in Azt., xviii. Ye blow the fall too soon!

  d.  1593.  Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. ii. 43. Let the generall Trumpet blow his blast.

1667.  Milton, P. L., I. 540. Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds.

1761.  Beattie, Ode to Peace, ii. 3. The hoarse alarms Her trump terrific blows.

  15.  intr. a. Of a wind-instrument: To give forth a sound by being blown. Also with up (obs.).

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 210. Þe englene bemen … þet schulen … biuoren þe grureful dome grisliche bloawen.

a. 1340.  Hampole, Pr. Consc., 4677. Þe beme þat blaw sal on domsday.

c. 1430.  Syr Tryam., 1092. The kyng … herde a bewgulle blowe!

1535.  Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 181. All the trumpettis blawand vp in tune.

1606.  Shaks., Tr. & Cr., I. iii. 256. Trumpet, blow loud, Send thy Brasse voyce through all these lazie Tents.

1647.  Fanshawe, Pastor Fido (1676), 52. But list a little, doth not a Horn blow?

1875.  O. W. Holmes, Old Camb., Poems (1884), 306. Our trumpets needs must blow.

  b.  Of the blower: To sound a blast.

c. 1205.  Lay., 8054. Þe king lette blawen & bonnien his ferden.

1375.  Barbour, Bruce, III. 484. Quhen he hard sa blaw and cry.

c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 1303. Þe kyng … henttes his horne and hastily blawes.

1523.  Ld. Berners, Froiss., 410. AL the houre of ix. theyr mynstrels blewe vp on highe.

1530.  Palsgr., 459/1. He bloweth in a trompet.

1602.  Return fr. Parnass., II. v. (Arb.), 29. There is an excellent skill in blowing for the terriers.

1611.  Bible, Judg. vii. 18. I blow with a trumpet.

a. 1882.  Longf., M. Angelo. Blow, ye bright angels, on your golden trumpets.

  c.  Of the blast or note: To sound.

1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., III. i. 5. When the blast of Warre blowes in our eares.

1852.  Tennyson, Ode Wellington, iii. Let the mournful martial music blow.

  ** To blow a fire, and the like.

  16.  trans. To direct a current of air against (anything) so as to cool, warm, or dry it. Sometimes with complemental words expressing the effect of the action, as to blow (something) dry.

1398.  Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XV. cxxxviii. (1495), 539. Stones ben dygged and ben strongly blowen wyth fyre and torne to brasse and metall.

1566.  Drant, Horace Sat., ix. E iij. All the reaste might blow their nayles.

1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 52. To fan and blow them dry again she seeks.

a. 1659.  Cleveland, News fr. Newcastle, 120. And in embroidered Buck-skins blows his Nails.

1841.  Marryat, Poacher, xxiv. The winter was cold … and he blew his fingers.

1850.  Tennyson, In Mem., lxxii. Blasts that blow the poplar white.

  17.  esp. To direct a current of air into (a fire), in order to make it burn more brightly. Also with up.

a. 1300.  Havelok, 913. Y wile … The fir blowe, an ful wele maken.

1530.  Palsgr., 458/2. Where be the bellowes, I praye the, blowe the fyre.

1611.  Bible, Isa. liv. 16. The smith that bloweth the coales in the fire.

1631.  Gouge, God’s Arrows, IV. xiii. 391. Yet were … the sparkes of that fire so blowne up, as dazled the eyes.

1677.  Moxon, Mech. Exerc. (1703), 7. The Phrase Smiths use … is, Blow up the Fire, or sometimes, Blow up the Coals.

1781.  Hayley, Triumphs Temper, I. 374.

1830.  trans. Aristophanes’ Acharn., 29. The sparks, blowed with a favourable puff of the bellows, leap aloft.

  b.  fig. To blow the coals or the fire: to stir up or promote strife; to fan the flame of discord.

1581.  Lett., in Tytler, Hist. Scot. (1864), IV. 41. After every effort to ‘blow the coals,’ as he [Bowes] expressed it.

1670.  Cotton, Espernon, II. VII. 309. The Chancellor … had also help’d to blow the fire.

1725.  Ramsay, Gentle Sheph., IV. i. To thole An ethercap like him to blaw the coal.

  c.  To blow out: (a.) trans. to extinguish (a flame) by a current of air; (b.) intr. to be extinguished by a current of air.

1377.  Langl., P. Pl., B. XVII. 212. As þow seest some tyme sodeynliche a torche, The blase þere-of yblowe out.

1596.  Shaks., Tam. Shr., II. i. 136. Though little fire growes great with little winde, yet extreme gusts will blow out fire.

1617.  P. Bayne, in Spurgeon, Treas. David, Ps. cxix. 29. As candles new bloun out are soon bloun in again.

1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl. (1675), 353. A Candle … inclos’d in a Lanthorn … is in less danger to be blown out.

1839.  Dickens, Nich. Nick., viii. Squeers … opened the shutters and blew the candle out.

1842.  Tennyson, Goose, 49. The glass blew in, the fire blew out.

  † 18.  fig. To excite, inflame, arouse, fan (feeling, passion, discord, etc.; rarely, a person to some feeling or action). Usually with up. Obs.

a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 256. Ȝif þe ueond bloweð bitweonen ou eni wreððe.

1654.  G. Goddard, in Burton, Diary (1828), I. 93. These two interests … being constantly blown up by the enemies beyond the seas.

1677.  Yarranton, Engl. Improv., To Rdr. They … blow up a War betwixt England and Holland.

1720.  Ozell, Vertot’s Rom. Rep., I. II. 118. Finding the People were blown up again to their former Animosity.

1776.  Gibbon, Decl. & F., I. vi. 127. Some trifling accident blew up their discontent into a furious mutiny.

  19.  In Metallurgy. To blow in: (trans.) to put a blast furnace in operation. To blow out: to put a blast furnace out of blast, by ceasing to charge it with fresh materials, and by continuing the blast, until all the contents have been smelted. Also said intr. of the furnace.

1864.  Daily Tel., 26 Oct., 3/2. It was a question of reducing wages, or of allowing half the furnaces in the district to blow out.

1881.  Sat. Rev., 1 May, 565. 127 new furnaces have now been blown in.

1885.  Law Times, LXXIX. 188/2. A few workmen only were kept on until the furnaces could be blown out.

  † 20.  trans. To cast (of molten metal). Obs.

a. 1300.  Cursor M., 6503. A goldin calf þar-of þai blu.

1483.  Caxton, Gold. Leg., 61/3. They haue made to them a Calf blowen and haue worshyped it.

  *** To clear (a pipe, etc.) by blowing.

  21.  trans. To clear from mucus or other adherent matter by sending a current of air through; as, to blow the nose, to blow eggs, gas or water pipes.

c. 1532.  Dewes, in Palsgr. 906. To blowe the nose, le moucher.

a. 1613.  Overbury, Char., Wks. (1856), 129. He hath learnt to cough, and spit, and blow his nose at every period.

1795.  Wolcott (P. Pindar), Pindar., Wks. 1812, IV. 209. He blows his mean pug-nose.

1828.  W. Sewell, Oxf. Prize Ess., 80. Socrates … had done what he rarely did, washed, put on a pair of shoes, and blown his nose.

1880.  Wood, in Boy’s Own Paper, 24 April. Do not worry yourself about blowing the eggs at the time.

Mod.  The plumber will try whether the obstruction can be removed by blowing the pipe.

  **** To inflate by blowing.

  22.  trans. To swell (up or out) by sending a current of air into; to inflate, puff up.

c. 1420.  Liber Cocorum (1862), 26. Þe skyn þou opon … blaw hym with penne; Þenne ryses þo skyn before.

c. 1425.  Seven Sag. (P.), 1523. Hys body was al to-blaw.

c. 1550.  Balfour, Practicks, 379. Challenge of Fleshouris … That they blaw the flesh, and cause it seme fat and fair.

1674.  Ray, N. C. Wds., 48. Tharm … guts prepared, cleansed and blown up for to receive puddings.

1770.  A. Young, Tour N. Eng., I. 65. Two pieces by Smith, of Derby; boys blowing bladders, and girls dressing a cat.

1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), III. 38. Because a man has blown himself out like a bladder.

  b.  To form or shape by means of inflation, as to blow bubbles, glass. Const. simply, or up, out.

1589.  Pappe w. Hatchet, D iiij. Not like to glasse mettal, to be blowne in … fashion of euerie mans breath.

1660.  Boyle, New Exp. Phys.-Mech., ii. 40. Glass bubles, such as are wont to be blown at the flame of a Lamp.

1869.  Tyndall, Light, ii. (1873), 66. Spending his days in blowing soap-bubbles.

1875.  Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 659. The bulb of glass being put into the mould, and blown while very hot.

  † 23.  fig. To inflate or puff up (a person) with pride or vanity. Also absol. Obs.

1388.  Wyclif, 1 Cor. iv. 19. The word of hem that ben blowun with pride. Ibid., viii. 1. Kunnynge blowith, charite edifieth.

c. 1430.  Hymns Virg. (1867), 115. Charite … Ne blowen is with pride.

1594.  T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., 147. Crœsus … he perceived to be blowen and puft up with pride.

1651.  Hobbes, Leviath., II. xxv. 135. When they blow one another with Orations.

a. 1715.  Burnet, Own Time (1766), II. 78. Blown vp with popularity.

1718.  Hickes & Nelson, J. Kettlewell, III. § 110. 462. Never Capable of Blowing up his Mind with the least Vanity.

  † b.  fig. To inflate, enlarge, magnify; to make (a thing) appear greater or grander than it really is. Also, Also, To invent a report of. Usually with up. Obs.

1536.  Starkey, Lett., in England (1871), Life 37. Blowyng vp that authoryte wyth such arrogancy.

1666.  Pepys, Diary (1879), IV. 198. That we at Court do blow up a design of invading us.

1699.  Bentley, Phal., Pref. 6. I had no apprehension … that the Business could have been blown to this Hight.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 39, ¶ 6. A vulgar [sentiment] that is blown up with all the sound and energy of expression.

  ***** To explode by blowing.

  24.  trans. To shatter, destroy, or otherwise act upon by means of explosion. Const. with various adverbs of direction, esp. up; also with such phrases as to atoms; in technical use often simply to blow, like ‘to blast.’

1599.  Sandys, Europæ Spec. (1632), 76. They may … blow uppe the mines of their adversaries.

1602.  Shaks., Ham., III. iv. 209. I will delve one yard below their mines And blow them at the moon.

1605.  Act 3 Jas. I., iv. That more than barbarous and horrible attempt to have blowuen up with Gunpowder the Kinge Queene Prince Lordes and Commons.

1679–88.  Secr. Serv. Moneys Chas. & Jas. (1851), 50. To Thomas Silver, Gunner, for a reward … in blowing up several buildings, and suppressing the late fire.

1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 80, ¶ 9. One of our Bombs fell into a Magazine … and blew it up.

1799.  J. Robertson, Agric. Perth, 366. The small expence of blowing a few yards of rock.

1801.  Wellington, in Gurw., Disp., I. 36. After blowing open the gates.

c. 1880.  Grant, Hist. India, I. lxxv. 399/1. The breaching guns … were blown in the touch-hole.

  b.  To blow any one’s brains out: to shoot him through the head (with fire-arms). Cf. BRAIN sb. 1 b.

1816.  Scott, Old Mort., xiv. If they attempt an escape, blow their brains out.

  25.  fig. To blow up: † a. to destroy, put an end to; to ruin. Obs.

1660.  Sir H. Finch, in Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1808), IV. 146. He could not think any thing more dangerous than the writing this Book … it blew up this parliament totally, and damned the Act of Oblivion.

1746.  Chesterf., Lett., II. cciii. 270. A despatch with less than half these faults would blow you up for ever.

1791.  J. Hampson, Mem. J. Wesley, I. 104–5. It was now reported, that the college censors were going to blow up the Godly Club.

  b.  To scold, rail at. colloq.

1827.  Lytton, Pelham, lv. (L.). Lord Gravelton … was ‘blowing up’ the waiters in the coffee-room.

1882.  B. Ramsay, Recoll. Mil. Serv., I. iii. 55. He began to blow me up for not having provided quarters for his men and horses.

  26.  intr. To undergo explosion; to go to pieces by explosion; to erupt. Usually with up. † b. transf. To give way, collapse.

1694.  Lond. Gaz., No. 2994/3. Two Magazines blew up.

1783.  Page, in Phil. Trans., LXXIV. 13. The work … from the weight upon one part only, might have blown.

1863.  Kingsley, Water-bab., vi. 242. The mountain had blown up like a barrel of gunpowder.

  c.  To blow out (see quot.).

1881.  Raymond, Mining Gloss., Blow-out … a shot or blast is said to blow out when it goes off like a gun and does not shatter the rock.

  III.  Senses of doubtful position.

  27.  trans. To expose, betray; inform upon. (Formerly sometimes blow up.) Now slang. Cf. 30.

1575.  Appius & Virg., in Hazl., Dodsley, IV. 136. Was all well agreed? did nobody blow ye?

1702.  Vanbrugh, False Fr., IV. ii. So! she’s here!… Now we are blown up!

1742.  Richardson, Pamela, IV. 275. Thou deservest to be blown up, and to have thy Plot spoiled.

1770.  Langhorne, Plutarch (1879), II. 1035/1. So near was the great secret being blown.

c. 1805.  Mar. Edgeworth, Wks. (Rtldg.), I. 185. He was afraid that the mulatto woman should recollect either his face or voice, and should blow him.

1821.  Lockhart, Valerius, I. xi. 202. The time is not yet come to blow his private doings.

1833.  Marryat, P. Simple, xliii. I wasn’t going to blow the gaff [= let out the secret].

  b.  absol. To tell tales, ‘peach.’ (See also 30.)

a. 1859.  L. Hunt, Country Lodging, in Casquet Lit. (1877), I. 42/1. D—n me, if I don’t blow…. I’ll tell Tom Neville.

  28.  Said of flies and other insects: To deposit their eggs. [This sense is apparently connected with old notions of natural history. It has nothing to do with the notion of blowing or inflating meat.]

  † a.  trans. (with ‘blotes’ or eggs as obj.) Obs.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 49. Worms … which are not bigger then such as flyes blow in rotten flesh.

1657.  S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 44. They [bees] then blow in it [a cell of the comb] a thing less then, or as little as a flye-blote.

  † b.  absol. or intr. Obs.

1604.  Shaks., Oth., IV. ii. 67. As Sommer Flyes … that quicken euen with blowing.

1657.  S. Purchas, Pol. Flying-Ins., 44. The matter in which they [bees] blow or breed is something that they gather of the flowers.

1692.  T. Wagstaffe, Vind. Chas. I., xii. 83. It is the Nature of Flies to be ever buzzing, and blowing upon any thing that is raw.

1771.  Gullet, in Phil. Trans., LXII. 350. This blows in the ear of the corn, and produces a worm.

  c.  trans. To deposit eggs on or in (a place); to fill with eggs. Cf. FLY-BLOWN.

1588.  Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 409. These summer flies Haue blowne me full of maggot ostentation. Ibid. (1610), Temp., III. i. 63. To suffer The flesh-flie blow my mouth.

1650.  B., Discolliminium, 50. When Eagles are deplum’d, the flyes will blow their breech.

  † d.  with up. rare. Obs.

1650.  Fuller, Pisgah, II. viii. 172. No wonder if Worms quickly devoured him [Herod], whom those flesh-flies had blown up before. [A word-play on sense 23.]

  29.  Used in imprecations: To curse, ‘confound,’ ‘hang.’ vulgar. (The pa. pple. is blowed.)

1835.  Marryat, Olla Podr. (1840), III. 210. No, if I do, blow me!

1881.  Daily Tel., 28 Jan., 1/2. ‘Isn’t it rather risky to put your helm up in a heavy sea?’ I asked. ‘Blow risks,’ he answered: ‘a man must get what he wants.’

1882.  [Lees & Clutterbuck], Three in Norway, xxiv. 207. Retributive justice be blowed!

  30.  To blow upon (a person or thing) has been used in various senses (see a.); among others: To take the bloom off; to make stale or hackneyed; to bring into discredit, defame; also, to tell tales of, inform upon, expose (cf. 27). With indirect passive, To be blown upon (see b.). In this latter sense the simple blow also occurs trans. (see c.)

  a.  a. 1400[?].  Morte Arth. (1819), 47. A monge hem all be fore the dese He bloweth oute vppon the quene, To haue hys ryght.

1470–85.  (ed. 1634) Malory, Arthur (1816), II. 438. Then Sir Gawaine made many men to blow upon Sir Launcelot, and all at once they called him ‘False recreant Knight!’

1808.  Jamieson, Dict., s.v. Blaw, To Blaw out on one, formally to denounce one as a rebel by three blasts of the king’s horn at the market-cross of the head-borough of the shire; an old forensic phrase.

1876.  J. Weiss, Wit, Hum. & Shaks., ii. 51. Why … does she not blow upon the doctor?

  b.  c. 1645.  Howell, Lett., I. § 6 (1726), 277. I thank you for the good opinion you … have of my fancy of Trees: It is a maiden one, and not blown upon by any one yet.

1678.  Norris, Misc. (1699), 325. I wave these, and fix upon another account less Blown upon.

1679.  Penn, Addr. Prot., App. 246. A Man of Wisdom, Sobriety and Ability … if a Dissenter, must be blown upon for a Phanatick.

1708.  Mrs. Centlivre, Busie Body, II. ii. (1749), 36. If I can but keep my Daughter from being blown upon ’till Signior Babinetto arrives.

1711.  Addison, Spect., No. 105, ¶ 5. He will … whisper an Intrigue that is not yet blown upon by common Fame. Ibid. (1712), No. 464, ¶ 1. I am wonderfully pleased when I meet with any Passage in an old Greek or Latin Author, that is not blown upon.

1749.  Fielding, Tom Jones, X. ii. The reputation of her house, which was never blown upon before, was utterly destroyed.

1845.  Ford, Handbk. Spain, i. 7. If once blown upon, no one would employ them.

1848.  Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 48. The credit of the false witnesses had been blown upon.

1877.  A. M. Sullivan, New Irel., II. vii. 169. They had got word that the plot was ‘blown upon’ by some traitor, and must be abandoned.

  c.  1864.  Dk. Manchester, Crt. & Soc. Eliz. to Anne, I. 80. Puebla’s character had been somewhat blown.

  † 31.  To blow a bowl or in a bowl: to tipple, to be a habitual drunkard. Obs.

c. 1500.  Blowbol’s Test., in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 1. Many a throw Of good ale bolys that he had i-blowe.

1515.  Barclay, Eglog., i. (1570), A iv/3. To blowe in a bowle, and for to pill a platter.

  ☞  Phrase-key. b abroad, about 13; b away 12; b bellows 7; b brains out 24 b; b bowl 31; b bubbles 22 b; b coals 17; b down 12; b eggs 21; b fire 17; b flies’ eggs 28; b from 12; b glass 22 b; b great guns 1; b hot and cold 2 b; b in (furnace) 19; b into 9; b into one’s ear 11; b nose 21; b off 10, 12, 12 c; b out 4, 11, 13, 14, 17 c (= extinguish), 19 (furnace) 22 (= inflate), 26 c; b over 12 c; b short 4 b; b through 9; b to 12; b to atoms 24; b trumpet 14; b up 1, 14, 15, 18, 22–3 (= inflate), 24–6 (= explode), 25 b (= scold), 27, 28 d; b upon 9, 30.

  Blow- in combinations as blow-tube, blow-bowl, blow-coal, etc.: see after BLOW sb.²