Blow \Blow\, v. i. [imp. Blew (bl[=u]); p. p. Blown
(bl[=o]n); p. pr. & vb. n. Blowing.]
[OE. blawen, blowen,
AS. bl[=a]wan to blow, as wind; akin to OHG. pl[=a]jan, G.
bl["a]hen, 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.
Hark how it rains and blows ! --Walton.
2. To send forth a forcible current of air, as from the mouth
or from a pair of bellows.
3. To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.
Here is Mistress Page at the door, sweating and
blowing. --Shak.
4. To sound on being blown into, as a trumpet.
There let the pealing organ blow. --Milton.
5. To spout water, etc., from the blowholes, as a whale.
6. To be carried or moved by the wind; as, the dust blows in
from the street.
The grass blows from their graves to thy own. --M.
Arnold.
7. To talk loudly; to boast; to storm. [Colloq.]
You blow behind my back, but dare not say anything
to my face. --Bartlett.
To blow hot and cold (a saying derived from a fable of
[AE]sop'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.
Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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