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Origin and history of blow

blow(v.1)

"move air, produce a current of air," Middle English blouen, from Old English blawan "to blow (of the wind, bellows, etc.), breathe, make an air current; kindle; inflate; sound" a wind instrument (class VII strong verb; past tense bleow, past participle blawen), from Proto-Germanic *blæ-anan (source of Old High German blaen, German blähen), according to Watkins from PIE root *bhle- "to blow."

The transitive sense of "carry by a wind or current of air" is from c. 1300; that of "fill with air, inflate" is from late 14c. Of noses, from 1530s; of electrical fuses, from 1902. The meaning "to squander" (money) is from 1874; that of "lose or bungle" (an opportunity, etc.) is by 1943. The sense of "depart (some place) suddenly" is from 1902.

As a colloquial imprecation by 1781, associated with sailors (as in Popeye's "well, blow me down!"); it has past participle blowed.

To blow (a candle, etc.) out "extinguish by a current of air" is from late 14c. To blow over "pass" is from 1610s, originally of storms. To blow hot and cold "vacillate" is from 1570s. To blow off steam (1837) is a figurative use from steam engines releasing pressure. Slang blow (someone or something) off "dismiss, ignore" is by 1986. To blow (someone's) mind was in use by 1967; there is a song title "Blow Your Mind" released in a 1965 Mirawood recording by a group called The Gas Company.

For the sexual sense, see blow-job.

blow(v.2)

"to bloom, blossom, put forth flowers" (intransitive), from Old English blowan "to flower, blossom, flourish," from Proto-Germanic *blæ- (source also of Old Saxon bloian, Old Frisian bloia, Middle Dutch and Dutch bloeien, Old High German bluoen, German blühen), from PIE root *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom." This verb is the source of the blown in full-blown. The figurative sense of "attain perfection" is from c. 1600.

blow(n.1)

"a hard hit (with a fist)," mid-15c., blaw, blowe, from northern and East Midlands dialects, perhaps from Middle Dutch blouwen "to beat," or an unrecorded Old English cognate. The ordinary Old English word for "to strike" was slean (see slay (v.)). A common Germanic word; compare German bleuen, Gothic bliggwan "to strike."

Influenced in English by blow (v.1). The figurative sense of "a sudden shock or calamity" is from 1670s. To come to blows "engage in combat" is from 1650s (fall to blows is from 1590s). In reference to descriptions or accounts, blow-by-blow is recorded from 1921, American English, originally of detailed accounts in prize-fight broadcasts.

LIKE a hungry kitten loves its saucer of warm milk, so do radio fans joyfully listen to the blow-by-blow broadcast description of a boxing bout. [The Wireless Age, December 1922]

also from mid-15c.

blow(n.2)

"a blowing, a blast of wind," c. 1500, from blow (v.1).

also from c. 1500

Entries linking to blow

blow-job(n.)

also blowjob, "act of fellatio," 1961, from blow + job (n.). Exactly which blow is meant is the subject of some debate; the word might have begun as a euphemism for suck (thus from blow (v.1)), or it might refer to the explosive climax of an orgasm (thus blow (v.2)). The oldest verbal form appears to be blow (someone) off (1933), a phrase originally among prostitutes.

Unlike much sex slang, its date of origin probably is pretty close to the date it first is attested in print: as recently as the early 1950s, military pilots could innocently talk of their jet planes as blow jobs according to the "Thesaurus of American Slang."

full-blown(adj.)

of flower blossoms, "fully open," 1640s, from full (adj.) + blown "that has blossomed," from Old English geblowenne, past participle of blow (v.2) "to bloom." Figuratively "complete, fully developed" from 1650s. Full-blown also was used 17c.-18c. in reference to cheeks, sails, bladders, "fully distended" (by or as if by wind), in this case from blow (v.1), and the figurative sense might also be from or influenced by these.