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Blow off   /bloʊ ɔf/   Listen
verb
Blow  v. t.  (past blew; past part. blown; pres. part. blowing)  
1.
To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means; as, to blow the fire.
2.
To drive by a current air; to impel; as, the tempest blew the ship ashore. "Off at sea northeast winds blow Sabean odors from the spicy shore."
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. "Hath she no husband That will take pains to blow a horn before her?" "Boy, blow the pipe until the bubble rise, Then cast it off to float upon the skies."
4.
To clear of contents by forcing air through; as, to blow an egg; to blow one's nose.
5.
To burst, shatter, or destroy by an explosion; usually with up, down, open, or similar adverb; as, to blow up a building.
6.
To spread by report; to publish; to disclose; to reveal, intentionally or inadvertently; as, to blow an agent's cover. "Through the court his courtesy was blown." "His language does his knowledge blow."
7.
To form by inflation; to swell by injecting air; as, to blow bubbles; to blow glass.
8.
To inflate, as with pride; to puff up. "Look how imagination blows him."
9.
To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue; as, to blow a horse.
10.
To deposit eggs or larvae upon, or in (meat, etc.). "To suffer The flesh fly blow my mouth."
11.
To perform an act of fellatio on; to stimulate another's penis with one's mouth; usually considered vulgar. (slang)
12.
To smoke (e. g. marijuana); to blow pot. (colloq.)
13.
To botch; to bungle; as, he blew his chance at a good job by showing up late for the interview. (colloq.)
14.
To leave; to depart from; as, to blow town. (slang)
15.
To squander; as, he blew his inheritance gambling. (colloq.)
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."
(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.) "I have blown him up well nobody can say I wink at what he does."
To blow upon.
(a)
To blast; to taint; to bring into discredit; to render stale, unsavory, or worthless.
(b)
To inform against. (Colloq.) "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." "A lady's maid whose character had been blown upon."


Blow  v. i.  (past blew; past part. blown; pres. part. blowing)  
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!"
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."
4.
To sound on being blown into, as a trumpet. "There let the pealing organ blow."
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."
7.
To talk loudly; to boast; to storm. (Colloq.) "You blow behind my back, but dare not say anything to my face."
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.
9.
To deflate by sudden loss of air; usually used with out; of inflatable tires.
To blow hot and cold, 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."





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Blow off" Quotes from Famous Books



... the rest there was only the house, silent at best, or, worse, sending out through its half-open door the long, scornful No-o-o! of the maiden's unseen spinning-wheel. No matter the fame or grace of the rider. All in vain, my lad: pirouette as you will; sit your gallantest; let your hat blow off, and turn back, and at full speed lean down from the saddle, and snatch it airily from the ground, and turn again and gallop away; all is in vain. For by her estimate either you are living in fear of the conscript officer; or, if you are in the service, and here only transiently on leave of absence, ...
— Bonaventure - A Prose Pastoral of Acadian Louisiana • George Washington Cable
... of stiffs' talk. "Oh, let them blow off steam," says he. "Big talk, small deeds; that's their caliber, Jack. They'll have their sauciness hammered out of them quickly enough when Swope plays his ...
— The Blood Ship • Norman Springer
... great care must be taken to prevent destruction of young trees by snow-drifts. This is done by selecting locations, and by constructing or removing fences, to allow the snow to blow off; treading it down as it falls is also very useful, both in protecting the trees from breaking down by the settling of drifts in a thaw, and from the depredations of ...
— Soil Culture • J. H. Walden
... was emphatic. "Shut it down and you'll make it a thousand times worse. No, sir. Let 'em shout. Let 'em blow off any old steam they need. Just sit tight. If it's the usual hot air there's nothing much coming of it up here on Labrador. There's this to remember. We're a thousand miles of hell's own winter, and a pretty tough sea, from the politicians ...
— The Man in the Twilight • Ridgwell Cullum
... the spindles become jammed in the guides, and from various other causes which it would be tedious to enumerate; but the inaction of the safety valves is at once indicated by the steam gauge, and when discovered, the blow through valves of the engine and blow off cocks of the boiler should at once be opened, and the fires raked out. A cone in the ball of the waste steam pipe to send back the water carried upward by the steam, should never be inserted; as in some cases this cone has become loose, and closed ...
— A Catechism of the Steam Engine • John Bourne


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