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.

How blows the citron grove.

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.

4. To spread by report.

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.