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Blow up

verb, slang

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blow, up.

    "See if you can blow the bubbles up the staircase."

  2. 2
    make large wordnet
  3. 3
    To explode or be destroyed by explosion. also, figuratively, intransitive

    "Why do cars in movies always blow up when they fall off a cliff?"

  4. 4
    to swell or cause to enlarge wordnet
  5. 5
    To cause (something or someone) to explode, or to destroy (something) or maim or kill (someone) by means of an explosion. also, figuratively, transitive

    "We had to blow up the bridge before the enemy army arrived."

Show 28 more definitions
  1. 6
    fill with gas or air wordnet
  2. 7
    To inflate or fill with air, either by literally blowing or by using a pump. transitive

    "For the school science project, each student will blow up a balloon and then tie it closed."

  3. 8
    exaggerate or make bigger wordnet
  4. 9
    To represent something as being more important or serious than it actually is; to inflate; to exaggerate. figuratively, transitive

    "The foreign secretary David Miliband's emphasis that this is purely a consular matter is intended to forestall an attempt by Iranian hardliners to blow the incident up."

  5. 10
    burst and release energy as through a violent chemical or physical reaction wordnet
  6. 11
    To enlarge or zoom in on. transitive

    "Blow up the picture to get a better look at their faces."

  7. 12
    cause to burst with a violent release of energy wordnet
  8. 13
    To fail disastrously. intransitive

    "So I wish you luck, but don't come crying to me when it blows up in your face."

  9. 14
    add details to wordnet
  10. 15
    To increase without bound as a function argument or parameter approaches a certain value; to tend toward infinity; to approach infinity as a limit. intransitive

    "The quantity 1/x blows up as x approaches zero."

  11. 16
    get very angry and fly into a rage wordnet
  12. 17
    To become popular very quickly. intransitive, slang

    "This album is about to blow up; they’re being promoted on MTV."

  13. 18
    To suddenly get very angry, to lose one's temper. intransitive, slang

    "Dad blew up at me when I told him I was pregnant."

  14. 19
    To become much more fat or rotund in a short space of time. intransitive, slang
  15. 20
    To inflate, as with pride, self-conceit, etc.; to puff up. dated, transitive

    "to blow someone up with flattery"

  16. 21
    To excite. dated, transitive

    "to blow up a contention"

  17. 22
    To scold violently, blow up at. dated, transitive

    "[…] did not choose to comply with her wishes. Upon which Mrs. Basset, in the language of the Old Bailey, nabbed the rust; insisted upon some liquor, would not quit the house without it, and began to blow up the hostess and blast the rose."

  18. 23
    To blow the whistle.
  19. 24
    To succumb to oxygen debt and lose the ability to maintain pace in a race. intransitive
  20. 25
    To overwhelm through unexpectedly high demand, activity, usage, traffic volume, etc. slang, transitive

    "I blew up another department's API servers – did I screw up or should they have more protections?"

  21. 26
    To overwhelm through unexpectedly high demand, activity, usage, traffic volume, etc.; To overwhelm (a place) with traffic or volume by revealing its existence to others. slang, transitive

    "blow up the spot;   blow up someone's spot"

  22. 27
    To overwhelm through unexpectedly high demand, activity, usage, traffic volume, etc.; To bombard with a large number of calls, texts, or notifications, to the point of rendering temporarily unusable or exasperating the recipient. slang, transitive

    "blow up someone's phone"

  23. 28
    To be overwhelmed by unexpectedly high demand, usage, activity, traffic volume, etc. intransitive, slang

    "There were so many incoming enemy planes that our monitoring and notification system blew up before the base was even able to respond."

  24. 29
    To be overwhelmed by unexpectedly high demand, usage, activity, traffic volume, etc.; To be overwhelmed with traffic or volume. intransitive, slang

    "Damn, my spot blew up. Time to find the next one."

  25. 30
    To be overwhelmed by unexpectedly high demand, usage, activity, traffic volume, etc.; To receive a large number of calls, texts, or notifications, to the point of being rendered temporarily unusable or exasperating the recipient. intransitive, slang

    "one's phone is blowing up"

  26. 31
    To cause a malodorous smell by flatulation, defecation, etc. colloquial, slang

    "Don't go in there...I really blew it up."

  27. 32
    To begin; to gather; to form. intransitive

    "A storm is blowing up in the north."

  28. 33
    To use an intoxicating drug; to get high. dated, intransitive, slang

Etymology

From Middle English blow up, blowe up, dissimilated forms of earlier Middle English upblowen (> English upblow), equivalent to blow + up. Compare West Frisian opblaze (“to blow up, inflate”), Dutch opblazen (“to blow up, inflate”), German aufblähen and aufblasen (“to blow up, inflate”), Swedish blåsa upp (“to blow up, inflate”), Icelandic blása upp (“to blow up, inflate”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌱𐌻𐌴𐍃𐌰𐌽 (ufblēsan, “to blow or puff up”).

See also for "blow up"

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