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Blow Definition

blow

See also błöw

Contents

English

Wikipedia has articles on: Blow

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-Germanic *blēanan (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bhle- 'to swell, blow up' (compare Latin flare 'to blow', Armenian bełun 'fertile').

Verb

blow (third-person singular simple present blows, present participle blowing, simple past blew, past participle blown)

  1. (intransitive) To produce an air current.
    • 1606, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act 3, sc. 2:
      "Blow, winds, and crack your cheeks! rage! blow!"
  2. (transitive) To propel by an air current.
    Blow the dust off that book and open it up.
  3. (intransitive) To be propelled by an air current.
    The leaves blow through the streets in the fall.
  4. (transitive) To create or shape by blowing; as in to blow bubbles, to blow glass.
  5. (transitive) To cause to make sound by blowing, as a musical instrument.
  6. (intransitive) To make a sound as the result of being blown.
    In the harbor, the ships' horns blew.
  7. (intransitive, of a cetacean) To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding.
    There's nothing more thrilling to the whale watcher than to see a whale surface and blow.
    There she blows! (i.e. "I see a whale spouting!")
  8. (intransitive) To explode.
    Get away from that burning gas tank! It's about to blow!
  9. (transitive, with "up" or with prep phrase headed by "to") To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed.
    The demolition squad neatly blew the old hotel up.
    The aerosol can was blown to bits.
  10. (transitive) To cause sudden destruction of.
    He blew the tires and the engine.
  11. (intransitive) To suddenly fail destructively.
    He tried to sprint, but his ligaments blew and he was barely able to walk to the finish line.
  12. (intransitive, slang) To be very undesirable (see also suck).
    This blows!
  13. (transitive, slang) To recklessly squander.
    I managed to blow $1000 at blackjack in under an hour.
    I blew $35 thou on a car.
    We blew an opportunity to get benign corporate sponsorship.
  14. (transitive, vulgar) To fellate.
    Who did you have to blow to get those backstage passes?
  15. (transitive) To leave.
    Let's blow this joint.
Derived terms
Terms derived from blow (verb)
Translations
to produce an air current
to propel by an air current
  • German: blasen, wegblasen, fortblasen, hinfortblasen, pusten, wegpusten
  • Korean: 불다 (bulda)
  • Polish: zdmuchnąć
  • Russian: сдувать (sduvát') impf., сдуть (sdut') pf.
  • Scottish Gaelic: sèid (gd)
  • Vietnamese: thở (vi), thổi (vi)
to be propelled by an air current
  • Korean: 불리다 (bullida)
  • Macedonian: се вее (mk) (se vée)
  • Romanian: fi purtat (ro)
  • Vietnamese: bay (vi)
to create or shape by blowing
  • Macedonian: дува (mk) (dúva)
  • Romanian: umfla (ro)
  • Russian: выдувать (vyduvát') impf., выдуть (výdut') pf.
  • Swahili: panchi (sw)
  • Vietnamese: thổi (vi)
to blow a musical instrument to make it give a sound
  • Finnish: soittaa (fi), puhaltaa (fi)
  • Romanian: cânta la un instrument (ro)
  • Scottish Gaelic: sèid (gd)
to make a sound as if being blown
  • Scottish Gaelic: sèid (gd)
(of a cetacean) exhale visibly through the spout the seawater
to explode
  • Japanese: 爆発する (ばくはつする, bakuhatsu-suru)
  • Korean: 터지다 (teojida)
  • Macedonian: се распрснува (mk) (se rasp'rsnuva)
  • Portuguese: explodir (pt)
  • Russian: взрываться (vzryvát's'a) impf., взорваться (vzorvát's'a) pf., взлетать на воздух (vzletát' na vózduχ) impf., взлететь на воздух (vzlet'ét' na vózduχ) pf.
  • Swahili: panchi (sw)
  • Vietnamese: nổ (vi)
to cause to explode
to cause sudden destruction
to fail suddenly destructively
be very undesirable
  • Korean: 제기랄 (jegiral) (interjection)
  • Swahili: panchi (sw)
  • Vietnamese: tẽn tò (vi), tẽn (vi), thẹn thò (vi), thẹn (vi)
to squander
  • Korean: 날리다 (nallida)
  • Russian: продувать (produvát') impf., продуть (prodút') pf.
  • Spanish: cagar (es)
  • Swahili: panchi (sw)
  • Vietnamese: xài phí, phung phí
to fellate
  • Armenian: ծծել (hy) (ççel)
  • Bulgarian: духам (bg)
  • Catalan: llepar
  • Dutch: pijpen (nl)
  • Finnish: ottaa suihin (fi)
  • French: sucer (fr), tailler une pipe (fr) (to hew, or to grave, a smoking pipe)
  • German: blasen (de)
  • Korean: 아양떨다 (ayang-tteolda)
  • Macedonian: пуши (mk) (púši), дудла (mk) (dúdla)
to leave
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

intransitive meanings

  • Esperanto: blovi
  • Indonesian: meniup, meledakkan
  • Telugu: ఊదు (oodu), కొట్టుకొనిపోవు (koTTukonipOvu), వీచు (veecu)

Noun

blow (plural blows)

  1. A strong wind.
    We're having a bit of a blow this afternoon.
  2. (UK, informal) A chance to catch one’s breath.
    The players were able to get a blow during the last timeout.
  3. (uncountable, US, slang) Cocaine.
  4. (uncountable, UK, slang) Cannabis.
  5. (uncountable, US Chicago Regional, slang) Heroin.
Translations
strong wind
  • Finnish: puhuri, kova tuuli
  • German: Böe (de) f.
  • Macedonian: виор (mk) (víor) m.
chance to catch one’s breath
  • Finnish: hengähdystauko, henkeä
  • Macedonian: здив (mk) (zdiv) m.
  • Romanian: suflare (ro) f., răsuflare (ro)
  • Russian: передышка (ru) (p'er'edýška) f.
  • Swahili: panchi (sw)
cocaine — see cocaine

Etymology 2

Middle English blowe, blaw, northern variant of blēwe, from Proto-Germanic *blewwanan 'to beat' (compare Old Norse blegði 'wedge', German bläuen, Middle Dutch blouwen). Related to block.

Noun

blow (plural blows)

  1. The act of striking or hitting.
    A fabricator is used to direct a sharp blow to the surface of the stone.
    During an exchange to end round 13, Duran landed a blow to the mid-section.
  2. An unfortunate occurrence.
    A further blow to the group came in 1917 when Thomson died while canoeing in Algonquin Park.
    • 2011 April 15, Saj Chowdhury, “Norwich 2 - 1 Nott'm Forest”, BBC Sport:
      Norwich returned to second in the Championship with victory over Nottingham Forest, whose promotion hopes were dealt another blow.
Synonyms
Derived terms
terms derived from blow (noun)
Translations
act of striking or hitting
unfortunate occurrence
  • Macedonian: удар (mk) (údar) m.
  • Russian: удар (ru) (udár) m.
  • Swahili: panchi (sw)
  • Telugu: దెబ్బ (2)

Etymology 3

Middle English blowen, from Old English blōwan, from Proto-Germanic *blōanan (compare Dutch bloeien, German blühen), from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- 'to thrive, bloom' (compare Latin florēre 'to bloom').

Verb

blow (third-person singular simple present blows, present participle blowing, simple past blew, past participle blown)

  1. To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom.
    • (Can we date this quote?) John Milton:
      How blows the citron grove.
Translations
blossom — see blossom

Noun

blow (plural blows)

  1. A mass or display of flowers; a yield.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Tatler:
      Such a blow of tulips.
  2. A display of anything brilliant or bright.
  3. A bloom, state of flowering.
    roses in full blow.
Related terms
Translations
mass or display of flowers
  • Finnish: kukkaloisto (fi)
display of anything brilliant
state of flowering

Anagrams

 

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