Forms: 1–3 blǽst, 3– blast, 4 blest, 6 (Douglas) blist, 4–6 blaste. [Com. Teut.: OE. blǽst str. masc. = OHG. blâst, ON. blǫstr:—OTeut. *blǽs-tu-z str. m.; f. OTeut. *blǽsan, (Goth. -blêsan, ON. blása, WGer. blâsan) to blow: see BLAZE v.2 Cf. L. flā-tu-s. (The original long vowel was shortened by position in ME.)]
1. A blowing or strong gust of wind.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Ex., 290 (Gr.). Sæ grundas suþ wind fornam bæþweʓes blæst.
a. 1300. in Wright, Pop. Treat. Sc., 136. A dunt other a blast of grete miȝte.
1340. Ayenb., 203. Be zuych blest and be zuych wynd.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 1338. Reed that boweth dowen with every blaste.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 38. Blaste of wynde, flatus.
1573. G. Harvey, Lett.-bk. (1884), 34. Two March blasts.
1603. Knolles, Hist. Turks (1621), 1336. Those that fortune advanceth by the favour of her blastes.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 325. Frosts and Snows, and Bitter Blasts.
1840. R. H. Dana, Bef. Mast, xxxiv. 132. Broken by the blast of a hurricane.
1847. Longf., Ev., II. III. 184. Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the desert.
2. A puff or blowing of air through the mouth or nostrils; a breath. Obs. or arch.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 201. His licham of erðe he nam, And blew ðor-in a liues blast.
c. 1325. Coer de L., 1779. Unnethe he might draw his blast.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (1865), I. 223. A lanterne brennynge alway, þat no man couthe quenche wiþ blast noþer wiþ water.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 567. As when we breathe, we make a blast.
1611. Bible, Ex. xv. 8. With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together.
1642. T. Taylor, God’s Judgem., I. II. xxvi. 276. Breathing his last blast.
1741. Middleton, Cicero (1742), III. 304. The empty blast of popular favor.
† b. Angry breath, rage. Obs.
1535. Coverdale, Jud. viii. 2. Whan he had sayde this, their blast was swaged from him.
3. The sending of a continuous puff of breath through a wind-instrument, so as to make it sound; the blowing (of a trumpet, or the like); hence, the sound so produced; any similar sound. Also fig.
c. 1205. Lay., 19926. Þa wes bemene blæst.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 18075. Þar come a steuen als thoner blast.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 4990. When þai here þe grete bemes blast.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, XI. 4614. Iche buerne to be bun at the blast of a trumpe.
1509. Hawes, Past. Pleas., i. xiv. Of a great horne I harde a royal blast.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, II. vii. [vi.] 31. Wpsprang the cry of men and trumpis blist [clangorque tubarum].
1611. Bible, Josh. vi. 5. When they make a long blast with the rammes-horne.
1667. Milton, P. L., XI. 76. Th’ Angelic blast Filld all the Regions.
1782. Han. More, Daniel, VII. 114. Were thy voice Loud as the trumpet’s blast.
1851. D. G. Mitchell, Fresh Glean., Wks. (1864), 304. The postilion had given two blasts on his bugle.
† b. fig. Boasting: cf. the phrase to blow one’s own trumpet. Obs.
1494. Fabyan, V. cxl. 127. To kele somwhat theyr hyghe corage, or to oppresse in partye theyr brutisshe blastis.
† c. At one blast (L. uno flatu): at once, at the same time. For a blast: for once.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 2487. Hure hornes þai gunne þo to blowe; ful many at one blaste.
1579. Tomson, Calvin’s Serm. Tim., 94/2. Let vs glorifie him … and that not onely for a blast, but let vs continually preach and set forth the praises of God.
1638. T. Whitaker, Blood of Grape, 57. Both indeed at the first view or blast will seeme to shake both my foundation and edifice also.
1790. Beatson, Nav. & Mil. Mem., I. 193. Plunging a number of gallant men at one blast into eternity.
† d. A company (of huntsmen). Obs.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, F vij a. A Blast of hunters.
4. A strong current of air produced artificially.
a. 1618. Raleigh, Rem. (1644), 137. The Organ hath many Pipes, all which are filled with the same blast of wind.
1667. Milton, P. L., I. 708. As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., iv. 97. By which the blast was to be thrown in.
b. spec. The strong current of air used in iron-smelting, etc.
1697. Phil. Trans., XIX. 482. To give very strong and lasting Blasts for Iron Forges.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Steel, As soon as the Coal is thoroughly kindled … give the Blast.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 945. The blast is conducted through sheet-iron or cast-iron pipes … into the tuyères.
Hence c. In blast, at or in full blast: at work, in full operation. Out of blast: not at work, stopped.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 652. At present there are four or five furnaces in the state that are in blast.
1832. Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, vii. 114. The day when yonder furnaces are out of blast will be the day of your ruin.
1854. J. S. C. Abbott, Napoleon (1855), I. xxvi. 412. All the foundries of France were in full blast.
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls., II. 143. The organ … was in full blast in the church.
1874. Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., lxxxviii. 1. IV. 130. They burned perpetually like a furnace at full blast.
† 5. The sudden stroke of lightning, a thunderbolt. Obs.
1650. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846), 351. He … died by a blast of lightning.
1751. Franklin, Lett., Wks. 1840, V. 224. The end entered by the electric blast points north.
6. A sudden infection destructive to vegetable or animal life (formerly attributed to the blowing or breath of some malignant power, foul air, etc.). a. Blight; also an insect that causes blight. b. spec. A disease of the sugar cane. arch. or Obs.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 29 b. To preserve it from blast and mildew.
1702. C. Mather, Magn. Chr., V. iv. (1852), 316. Our wheat and our pease, fell under an unaccountable blast.
1750. G. Hughes, Barbados, 245. It [the sugar-cane] is liable to one disorder hitherto incurable, the Yellow Blast.
1756. P. Browne, Jamaica, 435. The Blast. This insect … is generally pernicious to all the plants on which it breeds.
1815. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5), III. 658/2. Blast is also used in agriculture and gardening, for what is otherwise called a blight.
c. transf. and fig. Any blasting, withering or pernicious influence; a curse.
1547. Boorde, Brev. Health, C 21 b. A Blast in the Eye.
1559. T. Bryce, in Farr’s S. P. (1845), I. 176. When shall thy spouse and turtle-doue Be free from bitter blaste?
1659. Hammond, On Ps. xxxiv. 14. Must needs be the forfeiting of God’s protection, and bring his blasts and curses.
1727. De Foe, Eng. Tradesm. (1745), I. xiii. 101. Turns the blessing into a blast.
1752. Johnson, Rambl., No. 204, ¶ 2. Resistless as the blasts of pestilence.
d. A dialectal name of erysipelas. e. A flatulent disease in sheep.
1845. W. Buchan, Domest. Med., xxv. 202. The country people … call this disease [erysipelas] a blast, and imagine it proceeds from foul air, or ill wind.
† 7. A blasted bud or blossom; blasted state.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 190. Thou shalt hang like a blast among the faire blossomes. Ibid., 196. As in all gardeins, some flowers, some weedes, and as in al trees some blossoms, some blasts.
1795. Southey, Occas. Pieces, i. Thy youth in ignorance and labour past, And thine old age all barrenness and blast.
8. A ‘blowing up’ by gunpowder or other explosive; an explosion.
1635. J. Babington, Pyrotechn., lvi. 63. Holding your head under the horizontal line of your Piece, for feare the blast annoy you.
1748. Anson, Voy., I. vii. 72. The blast was occasioned by a spark of fire from the forge.
1853. Kane, Grinnell Exp., xxxiii. (1856), 285. A noise like a quarry blast, explosive and momentary.
b. The quantity of gunpowder or other explosive used in a blasting operation.
1885. Daily News, 12 Oct., 5/2. When Hallett’s Reef in Hell Gate was destroyed … the blast was the largest ever used.
9. Sc. A smoke (of tobacco). Cf. K. James’s Counterblast to Tobacco (1604).
Mod. South Sc. He takes his blast after dinner.
10. Comb. and Attrib., as (in sense 1) blast-borne, -puff; (in sense 3) blast-horn; (in sense 4) blast-bloomery, -cylinder, -engine, -machine, -meter; also † blast-bob, the stroke of a blast of wind; blast-fan, a fan for producing a blast of air; blast-hearth, a hearth for reducing lead-ore; blast-hole, the hole by which water enters a pump, the wind-bore; blast-pipe, in a locomotive, a pipe conveying the steam from the cylinders into the funnel and so increasing the draught.
1860. W. Fordyce, Hist. Coal, 110. Besides the orifice or chimney at the top, there were two openings, one large in front, the other of smaller dimensions behind, for the insertion of the bellows pipe. Such was the *Blast Bloomery.
1582. Stanyhurst, Æneis, IV. (Arb.), 110. Thee boughs frap whurring, when stem with *blastbob is hacked.
1830. Tennyson, Poems, 124. *Blastborne hail.
1875. Ure, Dict. Arts, II. 949. There are 3 *blast-engines…. They have 96-inch blast- and 40-inch steam-cylinders.
1879. Cassell’s Techn. Educ., IV. 339/2. To … blow either hot or cold air through it by means of a *blast-fan.
1844. [C. Macfarlane], Camp of Refuge, I. 27. Sounding all the *blast-horns on the house-top to summon the whole neighbourhood to their aid.
c. 1865. J. Wylde, in Circ. Sc., I. 315/1. The combustion … is rapidly effected by means of the *blast-pipe of the cylinder.
