What is "blow out"

also blowout, 1825, American English colloquial, "outburst, brouhaha" (what, in modern use, would be called a blow up), from blow (v.1) + out. Meaning "abundant feast" is recorded from 1824; that of "flat tire" is from 1908.

vb. 1 (context transitive English) To extinguish something, especially a flame. 2 (context intransitive English) To deflate quickly on being punctured. 3 (context sports transitive English) In a sporting contest, to dominate and defeat an opposing team, especially by a large scoring margin. 4 (context transitive English) to exhaust; to physically tire

1. v. melt, break, or become otherwise unusable; "The lightbulbs blew out"; "The fuse blew" [syn: burn out, blow]

2. put out, as of fires, flames, or lights; "Too big to be extinguished at once, the forest fires at best could be contained"; "quench the flames"; "snuff out the candles" [syn: snuff out, extinguish, quench] [ant: ignite]

3. erupt in an uncontrolled manner; "The oil well blew out"

Blow Out is a 1981 American thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The film stars John Travolta as Jack Terry, a movie sound effects technician from Philadelphia who, while recording sounds for a low-budget slasher film, serendipitously captures audio evidence of an assassination involving a presidential hopeful. Nancy Allen stars as Sally Bedina, a young woman involved in the crime. The supporting cast includes John Lithgow and Dennis Franz. The film's tagline in advertisements was, "Murder has a sound all of its own".

The film is directly based on Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blow Up, replacing the medium of photography with the medium of audio recording. The concept of Blow Out came to De Palma while he was working on the thriller Dressed to Kill (1980). The film was shot in the late autumn and winter of 1980 in various Philadelphia locations on a relatively substantial budget of $18 million.

Blow Out opened to minuscule audience interest in 1981; however, it received a mostly positive critical reception. The lead performances by Travolta and Allen, the direction by DePalma and the visual style were cited as the strongest points of the film. Critics also recognised the stylistic and narrative connection to the work of Alfred Hitchcock, whom DePalma admires. Over the years since its initial theatrical release, it has developed status as a cult film and received a home media release by the Criterion Collection, a company who specialise in "important classic and contemporary film", which re-ignited public interest in the film.

Blow Out is a reality television series that first premiered on the Bravo cable television network in 2004, with a second season broadcasting in 2005. The first season revolved around the construction and launch of Jonathan Salon in Beverly Hills, an upscale Los Angeles hair salon. The second season showed the ongoing business ventures of now celebrity hair stylist Jonathan Antin including his managing his two salons and the launch of his own hair styling product. A third season premiered on March 21, 2006. Season 3 chronicled Jonathan's product launch and growing popularity in the fashion industry.

The Beverly Hills salon, located at 9681 Wilshire Blvd in Beverly Hills, is no longer Antin's and operates under Tom Brophy's Salon as of 2012.

"Blow Out" is the 63rd episode of the American television series Prison Break and was broadcast on September 29, 2008 in the United States on the Fox Network.