%blow%

n. (Bot.) A blossom; a flower; also, a state of blossoming; a mass of blossoms. “Such a blow of tulips.” Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. Blew p. p. Blown p. pr. & vb. n. Blowing. ] [ OE. blowen, AS. blōwan to blossom; akin to OS. blōjan, D. bloeijen, OHG. pluojan, MHG. blüejen, G. blühen, L. florere to flourish, OIr. blath blossom. Cf. Blow to puff, Flourish. ] To flower; to blossom; to bloom. [ 1913 Webster ]

How blows the citron grove. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. blaw, blowe; cf. OHG. bliuwan, pliuwan, to beat, G. bläuen, Goth. bliggwan. ] 1. A forcible stroke with the hand, fist, or some instrument, as a rod, a club, an ax, or a sword. [ 1913 Webster ]

Well struck ! there was blow for blow. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault. [ 1913 Webster ]

A vigorous blow might win [ Hanno's camp ]. T. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The infliction of evil; a sudden calamity; something which produces mental, physical, or financial suffering or loss (esp. when sudden); a buffet. [ 1913 Webster ]

A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

At a blow, suddenly; at one effort; by a single vigorous act. “They lose a province at a blow.” Dryden. --
To come to blows, to engage in combat; to fight; -- said of individuals, armies, and nations. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Stroke; knock; shock; misfortune. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ imp. Blew p. p. Blown p. pr. & vb. n. Blowing. ] [ OE. blawen, blowen, AS. blāwan to blow, as wind; akin to OHG. plājan, G. blähen, to blow up, swell, L. flare to blow, Gr. 'ekflai`nein to spout out, and to E. bladder, blast, inflate, etc., and perh. blow to bloom. ] 1. To produce a current of air; to move, as air, esp. to move rapidly or with power; as, the wind blows. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hark how it rains and blows ! Walton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To send forth a forcible current of air, as from the mouth or from a pair of bellows. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff. [ 1913 Webster ]

Here is Mistress Page at the door, sweating and blowing. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To sound on being blown into, as a trumpet. [ 1913 Webster ]

There let the pealing organ blow. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To spout water, etc., from the blowholes, as a whale. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To be carried or moved by the wind; as, the dust blows in from the street. [ 1913 Webster ]

The grass blows from their graves to thy own. M. Arnold. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To talk loudly; to boast; to storm. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

You blow behind my back, but dare not say anything to my face. Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To stop functioning due to a failure in an electrical circuit, especially on which breaks the circuit; sometimes used with out; -- used of light bulbs, electronic components, fuses; as, the dome light in the car blew out. [ PJC ]

9. To deflate by sudden loss of air; usually used with out; -- of inflatable tires. [ PJC ]

To blow hot and cold (a saying derived from a fable of Æsop's), to favor a thing at one time and treat it coldly at another; or to appear both to favor and to oppose. --
To blow off, to let steam escape through a passage provided for the purpose; as, the engine or steamer is blowing off. --
To blow out. (a) To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapor; as, a steam cock or valve sometimes blows out. (b) To talk violently or abusively. [ Low ] --
To blow over, to pass away without effect; to cease, or be dissipated; as, the storm and the clouds have blown over. --
To blow up, to be torn to pieces and thrown into the air as by an explosion of powder or gas or the expansive force of steam; to burst; to explode; as, a powder mill or steam boiler blows up. “The enemy's magazines blew up.” Tatler. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. 1. To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means; as, to blow the fire. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To drive by a current air; to impel; as, the tempest blew the ship ashore. [ 1913 Webster ]

Off at sea northeast winds blow
Sabean odors from the spicy shore. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To cause air to pass through by the action of the mouth, or otherwise; to cause to sound, as a wind instrument; as, to blow a trumpet; to blow an organ; to blow a horn. [ 1913 Webster ]

Hath she no husband
That will take pains to blow a horn before her? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Boy, blow the pipe until the bubble rise,
Then cast it off to float upon the skies. Parnell. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To clear of contents by forcing air through; as, to blow an egg; to blow one's nose. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. To burst, shatter, or destroy by an explosion; -- usually with up, down, open, or similar adverb; as, to blow up a building. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. To spread by report; to publish; to disclose; to reveal, intentionally or inadvertently; as, to blow an agent's cover. [ 1913 Webster ]

Through the court his courtesy was blown. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

His language does his knowledge blow. Whiting. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. To form by inflation; to swell by injecting air; as, to blow bubbles; to blow glass. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. To inflate, as with pride; to puff up. [ 1913 Webster ]

Look how imagination blows him. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue; as, to blow a horse. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. To deposit eggs or larvæ upon, or in (meat, etc.). [ 1913 Webster ]

To suffer
The flesh fly blow my mouth. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

11. To perform an act of fellatio on; to stimulate another's penis with one's mouth; -- usually considered vulgar. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

12. to smoke (e. g. marijuana); to blow pot. [ colloq. ] [ PJC ]

13. to botch; to bungle; as, he blew his chance at a good job by showing up late for the interview. [ colloq. ] [ PJC ]

14. to leave; to depart from; as, to blow town. [ slang ] [ PJC ]

15. to squander; as, he blew his inheritance gambling. [ colloq. ] [ PJC ]

To blow great guns, to blow furiously and with roaring blasts; -- said of the wind at sea or along the coast. --
To blow off, to empty (a boiler) of water through the blow-off pipe, while under steam pressure; also, to eject (steam, water, sediment, etc.) from a boiler. --
To blow one's own trumpet, to vaunt one's own exploits, or sound one's own praises. --
To blow out, to extinguish by a current of air, as a candle. --
To blow up. (a) To fill with air; to swell; as, to blow up a bladder or bubble. (b) To inflate, as with pride, self-conceit, etc.; to puff up; as, to blow one up with flattery. “Blown up with high conceits engendering pride.” Milton. (c) To excite; as, to blow up a contention. (d) To burst, to raise into the air, or to scatter, by an explosion; as, to blow up a fort. (e) To scold violently; as, to blow up a person for some offense. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ] I have blown him up well -- nobody can say I wink at what he does. G. Eliot. [ 1913 Webster ] --
To blow upon. (a) To blast; to taint; to bring into discredit; to render stale, unsavory, or worthless. (b) To inform against. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ] How far the very custom of hearing anything spouted withers and blows upon a fine passage, may be seen in those speeches from [ Shakespeare's ] Henry V. which are current in the mouths of schoolboys. C. Lamb. [ 1913 Webster ] A lady's maid whose character had been blown upon. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A blowing, esp., a violent blowing of the wind; a gale; as, a heavy blow came on, and the ship put back to port. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The act of forcing air from the mouth, or through or from some instrument; as, to give a hard blow on a whistle or horn; to give the fire a blow with the bellows. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. The spouting of a whale. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Metal.) A single heat or operation of the Bessemer converter. Raymond. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. An egg, or a larva, deposited by a fly on or in flesh, or the act of depositing it. Chapman. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. the backward escape of unburned gunpowder after a shot. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. The downy seed head of a dandelion, which children delight to blow away. B. Jonson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. the leakage of gases from the combustion cylinder of an internal combustion engine between the piston and cylinder wall into the crankcase. [ PJC ]

n. 1. One who, or that which, blows. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Mech.) A device for producing a current of air; as: (a) A metal plate temporarily placed before the upper part of a grate or open fire. (b) A machine for producing an artificial blast or current of air by pressure, as for increasing the draft of a furnace, ventilating a building or shaft, cleansing gram, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A blowing out or excessive discharge of gas from a hole or fissure in a mine. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. The whale; -- so called by seamen, from the circumstance of its spouting up a column of water. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. (Zool.) A small fish of the Atlantic coast (Tetrodon turgidus); the puffer. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. A braggart, or loud talker. [ Slang ] Bartlett. [ 1913 Webster ]

{ } n. A prostitute; a courtesan; a strumpet. [ Low ] Smart. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a fish eaten as a delicacy, especially in Japan. It is highly dangerous because of a potent nerve poison (tetrodotoxin) in its ovaries and liver. Chefs require special training to learn how to remove the poisonous parts, and in Japan they must be licensed. In Japan it is called fugu. Deaths due to ingestion of the meat of this fish occur almost every year.
Syn. -- sea squab, puffer, puffer fish. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

2. any of numerous marine fishes of the family Tetraodontidae whose elongated spiny body can inflate itself with water or air to form a globe; several species contain tetrodotoxin, a potent nerve poison; they are closely related to spiny puffers.
Syn. -- puffer, globefish. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. (Zool.) Any species of fly of the genus Musca that deposits its eggs or young larvæ (called flyblows and maggots) upon meat or other animal products. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A tube, as of cane or reed, sometimes twelve feet long, through which an arrow (sometimes poisoned) or other projectile may be impelled by the force of the breath. It is a weapon much used by certain Indians of America and the West Indies; -- called also blowpipe, and blowtube. See Sumpitan. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. a very boastful and talkative person.
Syn. -- braggart, boaster, line-shooter, vaunter. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. A cavern in a cliff, at the water level, opening to the air at its farther extremity, so that the waters rush in with each surge and rise in a lofty jet from the extremity. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A nostril or spiracle in the top of the head of a whale or other cetacean. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ There are two spiracles or blowholes in the common whales, but only one in sperm whales, porpoises, etc. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A hole in the ice to which whales, seals, etc., come to breathe. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Founding) An air hole in a casting. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. prenom. 1. windy.
Syn. -- blustering(prenominal), blusterous, blustery, gusty. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. 1. processing that involves blowing a gas. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. An act of fellatio, a form of oral sex; -- a slang term. See blow{ 11 }, v. i. [ Vulgar slang ]
Syn. -- cock sucking. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. A burner that produces a hot flame.
Syn. -- blowtorch, torch. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

p. p. & a. 1. Swollen; inflated; distended; puffed up, as cattle when gorged with green food which develops gas. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Stale; worthless. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Out of breath; tired; exhausted. “Their horses much blown.” Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Covered with the eggs and larvæ of flies; fly blown. [ 1913 Webster ]

p. p. & a. Opened; in blossom or having blossomed, as a flower. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A blowing off steam, water, etc.; -- Also, adj. as, a blow-off cock or pipe. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An outburst of temper or excitement. [ Colloq. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. a gay or lavish festivity. [ colloq. ]
Syn. -- gala, gala affair, jamboree. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. the sudden deflation of an inflatable tire due to a puncture or rupture, often accompanied by a bang. [ PJC ]

3. the sudden escape of gas or liquid confined under pressure, such as in a gas or oil well, or in a system containing pressurized air or steam. [ PJC ]

n. The cleaning of the flues of a boiler from scale, etc., by a blast of steam. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A tube for directing a jet of air into a fire or into the flame of a lamp or candle, so as to concentrate the heat on some object. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ It is called a mouth blowpipe when used with the mouth; but for both chemical and industrial purposes, it is often worked by a bellows or other contrivance. The common mouth blowpipe is a tapering tube with a very small orifice at the end to be inserted in the flame. The oxyhydrogen blowpipe, invented by Dr. Hare in 1801, is an instrument in which oxygen and hydrogen, taken from separate reservoirs, in the proportions of two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen, are burned in a jet, under pressure. It gives a heat that will consume the diamond, fuse platinum, and dissipate in vapor, or in gaseous forms, most known substances. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A blowgun; a blowtube. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blowpipe analysis (Chem.), analysis by means of the blowpipe. --
Blowpipe reaction (Chem.), the characteristic behavior of a substance subjected to a test by means of the blowpipe. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A child's game. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Blowze. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Blow to blossom: cf. Growth. ] A blossoming; a bloom. [ Obs. or Archaic ] “In the blowth and bud.” Sir W. Raleigh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A blowgun. Tylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A similar instrument, commonly of tin, used by boys for discharging paper wads and other light missiles. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Glassmaking) A long wrought iron tube, on the end of which the workman gathers a quantity of “metal” (melted glass), and through which he blows to expand or shape it; -- called also blowing tube, and blowpipe. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Mach.) See Snifting valve. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Windy; as, blowy weather; a blowy upland. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Prob. from the same root as blush. ] A ruddy, fat-faced woman; a wench. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having high color from exposure to the weather; ruddy-faced; blowzy; disordered. [ 1913 Webster ]

Huge women blowzed with health and wind. Tennyson. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Coarse and ruddy-faced; fat and ruddy; high colored; frowzy. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. A side or incidental blow; an accidental blow. [ 1913 Webster ]

With their by-blows they did split the very stones in pieces. Bunyan. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. An illegitimate child; a bastard. [ 1913 Webster ]

The Aga speedily . . . brought her [ his disgraced slave ] to court, together with her pretty by-blow, the present Padre Ottomano. Evelyn. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A mortal or crushing blow; a stroke or event which kills or destroys. [ 1913 Webster ]

The deathblow of my hope. Byron. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To deposit eggs upon, as a flesh fly does on meat; to cause to be maggoty; hence, to taint or contaminate, as if with flyblows. Bp. Srillingfleet. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) One of the eggs or young larvæ deposited by a flesh fly, or blowfly. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tainted or contaminated with flyblows; damaged; foul. [ 1913 Webster ]

Wherever flyblown reputations were assembled. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Fully expanded, as a blossom; completely developed; as, a full-blown rose. Denham. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Fully distended with wind, as a sail. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Hence: Of full intensity; as, the recession developed into full-blown depression; a full-blown international crisis. [ PJC ]

n. 1. someone skilled creating objects such as bottles, vases, or other decorative or practical items from molten glass, especially one whose occupation is to make objects by blowing and shaping hot glass in its viscous semiliquid state. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

n. The art and process of creating glass objects, by shaping glass when reduced by heat to a viscid state, using various manipulations with the hands, especially by inflating it by blowing through a tube. The process is used to manufacture a wide variety of useful and ornamental objects. The manufacture of simple glass objects has been automated, but complex glass objects are still made by the traditional hand processes. [ PJC ]

a. Inflated, as with conceit. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. hornblāwere. ] One who, or that which, blows a horn. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Blown in or into. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. 1. mind-bending. [ informal ]
Syn. -- . [ WordNet 1.5 ]

2. intensely affecting the mind or emotions; astonishing; -- usually referring to extraordinary experiences; as, spending a week in the jungle was a mind-blowing experience; a mind-blowing horror story. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Inflated with wind. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]