What does "blow" mean?
A strong wind.
Blow
/bləʊ/ adj, intj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, intj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A strong wind.
- Grammar: blow is listed as adj, intj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: gust, puff, reverse, setback.
- Useful contrasts: advancement, budget, calm.
- Usage evidence: Teachers should occasionally let their students blow off some steam.
How to use "blow"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "blow" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "blow" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "blow" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "blow" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "blow" is acting as adj, intj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "gust" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "blow", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A strong wind. countable, uncountable
"We’re having a bit of a blow this afternoon."
- 2 An instance of the act of striking or hitting.
"A fabricator is used to direct a sharp blow to the surface of the stone."
- 3 A state of flowering; a bloom.
"roses in full blow"
- 4 forceful exhalation through the nose or mouth wordnet
- 5 A chance to catch one's breath. countable, informal, uncountable
"The players were able to get a blow during the last timeout."
Show 18 more definitions
- 6 A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault.
"There he found that […] Hanno's camp was crowded with cattle and carriages, and a mixed multitude of unarmed men, and even of women and children; and that a vigorous blow might win it with all its spoil: the indefatigable general was absent, scouring the country for additional supplies of corn."
- 7 A display or mass of flowers; a yield.
"[H]e believed he could shew me such a blow of tulips as was not to be matched in the whole country."
- 8 a powerful stroke with the fist or a weapon wordnet
- 9 Powder cocaine. US, slang, uncountable
"Hi there, you're a pretty cute chick, want to snort some blow?"
- 10 A damaging occurrence.
"A further blow to the group came in 1917 when Thomson died while canoeing in Algonquin Park."
- 11 A display of anything bright or brilliant. figuratively
- 12 street names for cocaine wordnet
- 13 Cannabis. UK, slang, uncountable
- 14 A cut made to a sheep's fleece by a shearer using hand-shears. Australia, historical
"Click goes his shears; click, click, click. / Wide are the blows, and his hand is moving quick, / The ringer looks round, for he lost it by a blow, / And he curses that old shearer with the bare belled ewe."
- 15 an unpleasant or disappointing surprise wordnet
- 16 Heroin. slang, uncountable
- 17 An outcrop of quartz from surrounding rock, thought to indicate mineral deposits below. Australia, New-Zealand
""Blows" of quartz, crop out above the layers of slate, granite, and sandstone formation."
- 18 an impact (as from a collision) wordnet
- 19 A blowjob; fellatio. countable, informal, uncountable, vulgar
"His girlfriend gave him a blow."
- 20 Synonym of button (“the punchy or suspenseful line of dialogue that concludes a scene”).
"The blow is important because it transitions the reader and eventually the audience from one scene to another."
- 21 an unfortunate happening that hinders or impedes; something that is thwarting or frustrating wordnet
- 22 An instance of using high-pressure air to empty water from the ballast tanks of a submarine, increasing the submarine's buoyancy and causing it to surface. countable, uncountable
"The sounding of the alarm was the signal to begin the emergency blow maneuver. At this time, witnesses reported, the guest at the high-pressure air controls operated the levers under close supervision of Navy personnel, and the submarine started to rise at a sharp angle."
- 23 a strong current of air wordnet
Verb
- 1 To produce an air current. intransitive
"Lear. Blow windes, & crack your cheeks; Rage, blow / You Cataracts, and Hyrricano's ſpout,"
- 2 To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom.
"You ſeeme to me as Diane in her Orbe, / As chaſte as is the budde ere it be blowne:"
- 3 exhale hard wordnet
- 4 To propel by an air current (or, if under water, a water current), usually with the mouth. transitive
"Blow the dust off that book and open it up."
- 5 free of obstruction by blowing air through wordnet
Show 52 more definitions
- 6 To be propelled by an air current. intransitive
"The leaves blow through the streets in the fall."
- 7 burst suddenly wordnet
- 8 To direct or move, usually of a person to a particular location. figuratively, transitive
""This is an unexpected pleasure!" exclaimed he. "What good fortune blows Lady Marchmont hither?""
- 9 melt, break, or become otherwise unusable wordnet
- 10 To create or shape by blowing. transitive
"to blow bubbles"
- 11 shape by blowing wordnet
- 12 To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means. transitive
"to blow the fire"
- 13 allow to regain its breath wordnet
- 14 To clear of contents by forcing air through. transitive
"to blow an egg"
- 15 show off wordnet
- 16 To cause to make sound by blowing (as a musical instrument). transitive
"Blow your horn! That car is about to hit us!"
- 17 cause to be revealed and jeopardized wordnet
- 18 To make a sound as a result of being blown. intransitive
"In the harbor, the ships’ horns blew."
- 19 deposit eggs (of insects) wordnet
- 20 To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding. intransitive
"There’s nothing more thrilling to the whale watcher than to see a whale surface and blow."
- 21 leave; informal or rude wordnet
- 22 To burst or explode; to occur suddenly intransitive
"Get away from that burning gas tank! It’s about to blow!"
- 23 be in motion due to some air or water current wordnet
- 24 To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed. transitive
"The demolition squad neatly blew the old hotel up."
- 25 spout moist air from the blowhole wordnet
- 26 To cause the sudden destruction of. transitive
"He blew the tires and the engine."
- 27 cause to move by means of an air current wordnet
- 28 To blow from a gun (method of executing a person). historical, transitive
- 29 cause air to go in, on, or through wordnet
- 30 To suddenly fail or give way destructively. intransitive
"He tried to sprint, but his ligaments blew and he was barely able to walk to the finish line."
- 31 provide sexual gratification through oral stimulation wordnet
- 32 To melt away because of overcurrent, creating a gap in a wire, thus stopping a circuit from operating. ergative
- 33 play or sound a wind instrument wordnet
- 34 To recklessly squander. slang, transitive
"I managed to blow $1000 at blackjack in under an hour."
- 35 make a sound as if blown wordnet
- 36 To fail at; to mess up; to make a mistake in. idiomatic, informal, transitive
"I blew it and forgot to start the spaghetti, so I had plenty of sauce and no pasta."
- 37 sound by having air expelled through a tube wordnet
- 38 To be very undesirable. intransitive, slang, stative
"This blows!"
- 39 spend lavishly or wastefully on wordnet
- 40 To perform oral sex on (someone); to fellate. transitive, vulgar
"Who did you have to blow to get those backstage passes?"
- 41 spend thoughtlessly; throw away wordnet
- 42 To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry. slang, transitive
"Let’s blow this joint."
- 43 make a mess of, destroy or ruin wordnet
- 44 To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner. intransitive
- 45 be inadequate or objectionable wordnet
- 46 To make flyblown; to defile or spoil, especially with fly eggs. transitive
"Shall they hoyſt me vp, And ſhew me to the ſhowting Varlotarie Of cenſuring Rome? Rather a ditch in Egypt, Be gentle graue vnto me, rather on Nylus mudde Lay me ſtarke-nak'd, and let the water-Flies Blow me into abhorring;"
- 47 be blowing or storming wordnet
- 48 (of a fly) To lay eggs; to breed (in flesh or meat). intransitive
"[…] said the bookseller, “but I cannot risk the expence of your debut - There are critics without as well as within a theatre.” - I know it, said I, interrupting him; “men who, like flies blowing on a piece of wholesome meat, can convert it into carrion - […]"
- 49 To spread by report; to publish; to disclose. obsolete, transitive
"Through the court his courtesy was blown."
- 50 To inflate, as with pride; to puff up. obsolete, transitive
"O peace, now he's deepely in: looke how imagination blowes him."
- 51 To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff. intransitive
"Rob. Miſtris Ford, Miſtris Ford: heere's Miſtris Page at the doore, ſsweating, and blowing, and looking wildely, and would needs ſpeake with you preſently."
- 52 To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue. transitive
- 53 To talk loudly; boast; brag. dated, intransitive
"I don't want the worst characters in hell to be running after me with friendly messages and little testimonials of admiration for Smythe, and blowing about his talents, and bragging on him, and belching their villainous fire and brimstone all through the atmosphere and making my place smell worse than a menagerie."
- 54 To slander, insult, critique or discredit (someone); to reprimand or scold (someone). dated, slang, transitive
- 55 To expose, or inform on. UK, archaic, slang, transitive
"'As for that,' says Will, 'I could tell it well enough, if I had it, but I must not be seen anywhere among my old acquaintances, for I am blown, and they will all betray me.'"
- 56 To sing. informal, intransitive, slang
"That girl has a wonderful voice; just listen to her blow!"
- 57 To flatulate or defecate. colloquial, intransitive, slang
"Uh, oh! I gotta blow!"
Adjective
- 1 Blue.
Intj
- 1 Used to express displeasure or frustration.
"Blow the expense!"
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Antonyms
Example
"Teachers should occasionally let their students blow off some steam."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "blow"?
Common synonyms include: gust, puff, reverse, setback, accident, accomplished fact.
How do you use "blow" in a sentence?
Teachers should occasionally let their students blow off some steam.
How do you pronounce "blow"?
Pronounced /bləʊ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Latin flō (“to blow”) and Old Armenian բեղուն (bełun, “fertile”)).
Etymology 2
From Middle English blo, bloo, from Old English blāw (“blue”), from Proto-Germanic *blēwaz (“blue, dark blue, grey, black”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰlēw- (“yellow, blond, grey”). Cognate with Latin flavus (“yellow”). Doublet of blue.
Etymology 3
From Middle English blowe, blaw, northern variant of blēwe, from Proto-Germanic *blewwaną (“to beat”) (compare Old Norse blegði (“wedge”), German einbläuen, Middle Dutch blouwen). Related to block.
Etymology 4
From Middle English blowen, from Old English blōwan, from Proto-Germanic *blōaną (compare Dutch bloeien, German blühen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (compare Latin florēre (“to bloom”)).