Blow
BLOW, noun [This probably is a contracted word, and the primary sense must be, to strike, thrust, push, or throw, that is, to drive. I have not found it in the cognate dialects. If g or other palatal letter is lost, it corresponds in elements with the Latin plaga
fligo; Eng.flog.]
1. The act of striking; more generally the stroke; a violent application of the hand, fist, or an instrument to an object.
2. The fatal stroke; a stroke that kills; hence, death.
3. An act of hostility; as, the nation which strikes the first blow Hence, to come to blows, is to engage in combat, whether by individuals, armies, fleets or nations; and when by nations, it is war.
4. A sudden calamity; a sudden or severe evil. In like manner, plaga in Latin gives rise to the Eng. plague.
5. A single act; a sudden event; as, to gain or lose a province at a blow or by one blow
At a stroke is used in like manner.
6. An ovum or egg deposited by a fly, on flesh or other substance, called a fly-blow.
BLOW, verb transitive preterit tense blew; participle passive blown. [Latin flo, to blow This word probably is from the same root as bloom, blossom, blow a flower.]
1. To make a current of air; to move as air; as, the wind blows. Often used with it; as, it blows a gale.
2. To pant; to puff; to breathe hard or quick.
Here is Mrs. Page at the door, sweating and blowing.
3. To breathe; as, to blow hot and cold.
4. To sound with being blown, as a horn or trumpet.
5. To flower; to blossom; to bloom; as plants.
To blow over, to pass away without effect; to cease or be dissipated; as, the storm or the clouds are blown over.
To blow up, to rise in the air; also, to be broken and scattered by the explosion of gunpowder.
BLOW, verb transitive To throw or drive a current of air upon; as, to blow the fire; also, to fan.
1. To drive by a current of air; to impel; as, the tempest blew the ship ashore.
2. To breathe upon, for the purpose of warming; as, to blow the fingers in a cold day.
3. To sound a wind instrument; as, blow the trumpet.
And through the court his courtesy was blown.
5. To deposit eggs, as flies.
6. To form bubbles by blowing.
7. To swell and inflate, as veal; a practice of butchers.
8. To form glass into a particular shape by the breath, as in glass manufactories.
9. To melt tin, after being first burnt to destroy the mundic.
To blow away, to dissipate; to scatter with wind.
To blow down, to prostrate by wind.
To blow off, to shave down by wind, as to blow off fruit from trees; to drive from land, as to blow off a ship.
To blow out, to extinguish by a current of air, as a candle.
To blow up, to fill with air; to swell; as, to blow up a bladder or a bubble.
10. To inflate; to puff up; as, to blow up one with flattery.
11. To kindle; as, to blow up a contention.
12. To burst, to raise into the air, or to scatter, by the explosion of gunpowder. Figuratively, to scatter or bring to naught suddenly; as, to blow up a scheme.
To blow upon, to make stale; as, to blow upon an author's works.
BLOW, noun A flower; a blossom. This word is in general use in the U. States, and legitimate. In the Tatler, it is used for blossoms in general, as we use blowth.
1. Among seamen, a gale of wind. This also is a legitimate word, in general use in the U. States.