blow

blow¹ W3S2 [bləu US blou] v past tense blew [blu:] past participle blown [ US bloun]

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1¦(wind moving)¦

2¦(wind moving something)¦

3¦(air from your mouth)¦

4¦(make a noise)¦

5¦(violence)¦

6¦(lose an opportunity)¦

7¦(waste money)¦

8 blow your nose

9 blow somebody a kiss

10¦(electricity stops)¦

11¦(tyre)¦

12¦(make a shape)¦

13¦(surprise/annoyance)¦

14¦(tell a secret)¦

15 blow somebody's mind

16 blow your top/stack/cool

16 blow a fuse/gasket

17 blow the whistle on somebody

18 blow something (up) out of (all) proportion

19 blow your own trumpet

19 blow your own horn

20 blow somebody/something out of the water

21 blow hot and cold

22 blow something sky-high

Phrasal verbs

　blow sb<=> away

　blow down

　blow in

　blow somebody/something<=>off

　blow out

　blow over

　blow up

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[: Old English; Origin: blawan]

1.) ¦(WIND MOVING)¦ [I and T]

if the wind or a current of air blows, it moves

▪ A cold breeze was blowing hard .

▪ It was blowing from an easterly direction.

▪ Outside, the weather was blowing a gale .

2.) ¦(WIND MOVING SOMETHING)¦ [I,T usually + adverb/preposition]

to move or to move something by the force of the wind or a current of air

▪ Her hair was blowing in the breeze.

▪ The wind blew the rain into our faces.

▪ My ticket blew away.

blow (sth) open/shut

▪ A sudden draught blew the door shut .

3.) ¦(AIR FROM YOUR MOUTH)¦ [I,T always + adverb/preposition]

to send air out from your mouth

blow (sth) into/onto/out etc

▪ She blew onto her coffee to cool it down.

▪ He blew the smoke right in my face.

▪ You'll have to blow harder than that!

4.) ¦(MAKE A NOISE)¦ [I and T]

to make a sound by passing air through a whistle, horn etc

▪ The whistle blew for halftime.

▪ A truck went by and blew its horn at her.

5.) ¦(VIOLENCE)¦ [T always + adverb/preposition]

to damage or destroy something violently with an explosion or by shooting

blow sth away/out/off sth

▪ Part of his leg had been blown off.

blow sth/sb to pieces/bits/smithereens

▪ A bomb like that could blow you to bits.

6.) ¦(LOSE AN OPPORTUNITY)¦ [T] informal

to lose a good opportunity by making a mistake or by being careless

▪ We've blown our chances of getting that contract.

▪ You've got a great future ahead of you. Don't blow it .

7.) ¦(WASTE MONEY)¦ [T] informal

to spend a lot of money in a careless way, especially on one thing

▪ I blew all the money I won on a trip to Hawaii.

8.) blow your nose

to clean your nose by forcing air through it into a cloth or a piece of soft paper

9.) blow sb a kiss

to kiss your hand and then pretend to blow the kiss towards someone

▪ She leant out of the window and blew him a kiss.

10.) ¦(ELECTRICITY STOPS)¦ [I and T]

if an electrical ↑fuse blows, or a piece of electrical equipment blows a fuse, the electricity suddenly stops working because a thin wire has melted

▪ The floodlights blew a fuse.

11.) ¦(TYRE)¦ [I and T]

if a tyre blows or if a car blows a tyre, it bursts

12.) ¦(MAKE A SHAPE)¦ [T]

to make or shape something by sending air out from your mouth

▪ The kids were blowing bubbles in the backyard.

blow glass

(=shape glass by blowing into it when it is very hot and soft)

13.) ¦(SURPRISE/ANNOYANCE)¦

blow/blow me/blow it etc

BrE spoken said to show annoyance or surprise

▪ Blow it! I forgot to phone Jane.

▪ Blow me down if she didn't just run off!

▪ Well, I'm blowed !

14.) ¦(TELL A SECRET)¦ [T]

to make known something that was meant to be a secret

▪ Your coming here has blown the whole operation.

blow sb's cover

(=make known what someone's real job or name is)

▪ It would only take one phone call to blow his cover.

15.) blow sb's mind

spoken to make you feel very surprised and excited by something

▪ Seeing her again really blew my mind.

→↑mind-blowing

16.) blow your top/stack/cool also blow a fuse/gasket informal

to become extremely angry quickly or suddenly

▪ One day, I just blew my top and hit him.

17.) blow the whistle on sb informal

to tell someone in authority about something wrong that someone is doing

▪ He blew the whistle on his colleagues.

→↑whistle-blower

18.) blow sth (up) out of (all) proportion

to make something seem much more serious or important than it is

▪ The issue was blown up out of all proportion.

19.) blow your own trumpet

especially BrE also blow your own horn

AmE informal to talk a lot about your own achievements - used to show disapproval

▪ Dave spent the whole evening blowing his own trumpet.

20.) blow sb/sth out of the water

to defeat someone or something that you are competing with, or to achieve much more than they do

▪ Motown had blown all the other record companies out of the water.

21.) blow hot and cold

BrE informal to keep changing your attitude towards someone or something

22.) blow sth sky-high

BrE to destroy an idea, plan etc by showing that it cannot be true or effective

▪ This new information blows his theory sky-high.

blow sb away [blow sb<=> away] phr v

1.) to make someone feel very surprised, especially about something they like or admire

▪ It just blows me away, the way everyone's so friendly round here.

2.) to kill someone by shooting them with a gun

▪ One move and I'll blow you away!

3.) to defeat someone completely, especially in a game

▪ Nancy blew away the rest of the skaters.

blow down phr v

if the wind blows something down, or if something blows down, the wind makes it fall

▪ The garden gate has blown down.

blow sth<=>down

▪ Several trees were blown down in the night.

blow in phr v

1.) also blow into sth

informal to arrive in a place, especially suddenly

▪ Jim blew in about an hour ago.

▪ Guess who's just blown into town ?

2.) if a storm or bad weather blows in, it arrives and begins to affect a particular area

▪ The first snowstorm blew in from the north.

blow off [blow sb/sth<=>off] phr v

1.) to treat someone or something as unimportant, for example by not meeting someone or not going to an event

▪ Tanya just blew me off - she said she didn't want to see me any more.

▪ Bud got into trouble for blowing off the meeting.

2.) blow the lid off sth

to make known something that was secret, especially something involving important or famous people

▪ Her book blew the lid off the Reagan years.

3.) blow sb's head off

to kill someone by shooting them in the head

4.) blow off steam

AmE to get rid of anger or energy by doing something

British Equivalent: let off steam

▪ I went jogging to blow off some steam.

blow out phr v

1.) if you blow a flame or a fire out, or if it blows out, it stops burning

▪ The match blew out in the wind.

blow sth<=>out

▪ Blow out all the candles.

2.) if a tyre blows out, it bursts

3.) blow itself out

if a storm blows itself out, it ends

4.) blow your/sb's brains out

to kill yourself or someone else with a shot to the head

5.) blow sb<=>out

AmE spoken to easily defeat someone

▪ We blew them out 28 - 0.

6.) AmE if you blow out your knee or another joint in your body, or if it blows out, you injure it badly

7.) if an oil or gas ↑well blows out, oil or gas suddenly escapes from it

8.) blow sb out

to stop having a friendship or relationship with someone

blow over phr v

1.) if the wind blows something over, or if something blows over, the wind makes it fall

▪ Our fence blew over in the storm.

blow sth<=>over

▪ The hurricane blew some palm trees over.

2.) if an argument or unpleasant situation blows over, it ends or is forgotten

▪ They weren't speaking to each other, but I think it's blown over now.

3.) if a storm blows over, it goes away

blow up phr v

1.) to destroy something, or to be destroyed, by an explosion

▪ The plane blew up in mid-air.

blow sth<=>up

▪ Rebels attempted to blow up the bridge.

2.) blow sth<=>up

to fill something with air or gas

▪ Can you blow up this balloon ?

▪ We'll blow the tyres up .

3.) if a situation, argument etc blows up, it suddenly becomes important or dangerous

▪ A crisis had blown up over the peace talks.

4.) blow sth<=>up

if you blow up a photograph, you make it larger

= ↑enlarge

▪ How much would it cost to have this photo blown up?

5.) informal to become very angry with someone

▪ Jenny's father blew up when she didn't come home last night.

blow up at

▪ I was surprised at the way he blew up at Hardy.

6.) if bad weather blows up, it suddenly arrives

▪ It looks as if there's a storm blowing up.

7.) blow up in sb's face

if something you have done or planned to do blows up in your face, it suddenly goes wrong

▪ One of his deals had just blown up in his face.

blow ²

blow² W3 n

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1¦(BAD EFFECT )¦

2¦(hard hit)¦

3¦(blowing)¦

4 come to blows (with somebody)

5 soften/cushion the blow

6 low blow

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[Sense: 1-2, 4-6; Date: 1400-1500; Origin: Origin unknown.]

[Sense: 3; Date: 1600-1700; Origin: BLOW¹]

1.) ¦(BAD EFFECT )¦

an action or event that causes difficulty or sadness for someone

▪ Joe resigned, which was a severe blow because we needed him desperately.

▪ His mother's death was a shattering blow .

▪ The election result dealt a further blow to the party.

▪ The factory closures came as a blow to the local economy.

▪ The final blow for many firms was the government's abolition of import duties.

2.) ¦(HARD HIT)¦

a hard hit with someone's hand, a tool, or a weapon

▪ She died from a heavy blow to the head.

▪ He struck a blow which threw her to the floor.

▪ Martin received a blow on the nose.

▪ He had been struck a glancing blow (=a blow that did not hit him directly) by the car.

blow to

▪ He gave her a violent blow to the head.

3.) ¦(BLOWING)¦

an action of blowing

▪ One big blow and the candles were out.

4.) come to blows (with sb)

if two people come to blows, they start arguing or hitting each other because they disagree about something

come to blows (with somebody) over

▪ They almost came to blows over the money.

5.) soften/cushion the blow

to make something unpleasant easier for someone to accept

▪ A reduction in interest rates would soften the blow of tax increases.

6.) low blow

AmE informal something unkind you say to deliberately embarrass or upset someone

→strike a blow for sb/sth at ↑strike¹ (13)

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COLLOCATES for sense 1

serious/severe/major blow

shattering/devastating/bitter blow (=something that makes you extremely disappointed and upset)

cruel/heavy/grievous blow

deal a blow (to somebody/something)/deal (somebody/something) a blow

strike a blow

suffer/receive a blow

come as a blow (to somebody)

fatal/final/mortal blow (=one that ends something)

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