What is to blow up

To blow up

Up \Up\ ([u^]p), adv. [AS. up, upp, [=u]p; akin to OFries. up, op, D. op, OS. [=u]p, OHG. [=u]f, G. auf, Icel. & Sw. upp, Dan. op, Goth. iup, and probably to E. over. See Over.]

Aloft; on high; in a direction contrary to that of gravity; toward or in a higher place or position; above; -- the opposite of down.

But up or down, By center or eccentric, hard to tell.
--Milton.
Hence, in many derived uses, specifically:
1. From a lower to a higher position, literally or figuratively; as, from a recumbent or sitting position; from the mouth, toward the source, of a river; from a dependent or inferior condition; from concealment; from younger age; from a quiet state, or the like; -- used with verbs of motion expressed or implied.
  
  But they presumed to go up unto the hilltop.
  --Num. xiv. 44.
  
  I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up.
  --Ps. lxxxviii. 15.
  
  Up rose the sun, and up rose Emelye.
  --Chaucer.
  
  We have wrought ourselves up into this degree of Christian indifference.
  --Atterbury.
2. In a higher place or position, literally or figuratively; in the state of having arisen; in an upright, or nearly upright, position; standing; mounted on a horse; in a condition of elevation, prominence, advance, proficiency, excitement, insurrection, or the like; -- used with verbs of rest, situation, condition, and the like; as, to be up on a hill; the lid of the box was up; prices are up.
  
  And when the sun was up, they were scorched.
  --Matt. xiii. 6.
  
  Those that were up themselves kept others low.
  --Spenser.
  
  Helen was up -- was she?
  --Shak.
  
  Rebels there are up, And put the Englishmen unto the sword.
  --Shak.
  
  His name was up through all the adjoining provinces, even to Italy and Rome; many desiring to see who he was that could withstand so many years the Roman puissance.
  --Milton.
  
  Thou hast fired me; my soul's up in arms.
  --Dryden.
  
  Grief and passion are like floods raised in little brooks by a sudden rain; they are quickly up.
  --Dryden.
  
  A general whisper ran among the country people, that Sir Roger was up.
  --Addison.
  
  Let us, then, be up and doing, With a heart for any fate.
  --Longfellow.
3. To or in a position of equal advance or equality; not short of, back of, less advanced than, away from, or the like; -- usually followed by to or with; as, to be up to the chin in water; to come up with one's companions; to come up with the enemy; to live up to engagements.
  
  As a boar was whetting his teeth, up comes a fox to him.
  --L'Estrange.
4. To or in a state of completion; completely; wholly; quite; as, in the phrases to eat up; to drink up; to burn up; to sum up; etc.; to shut up the eyes or the mouth; to sew up a rent.
  
  Note: Some phrases of this kind are now obsolete; as, to spend up (
  --Prov. xxi. 20); to kill up (
  --B. Jonson).
5. Aside, so as not to be in use; as, to lay up riches; put up your weapons. Note: Up is used elliptically for get up, rouse up, etc., expressing a command or exhortation. ``Up, and let us be going.'' --Judg. xix. 28. Up, up, my friend! and quit your books, Or surely you 'll grow double. --Wordsworth. It is all up with him, it is all over with him; he is lost. The time is up, the allotted time is past. To be up in, to be informed about; to be versed in. ``Anxious that their sons should be well up in the superstitions of two thousand years ago.'' --H. Spencer. To be up to.
  1. To be equal to, or prepared for; as, he is up to the business, or the emergency. [Colloq.]
  2. To be engaged in; to purpose, with the idea of doing ill or mischief; as, I don't know what he's up to. To blow up.
    1. To inflate; to distend.
    2. To destroy by an explosion from beneath.
  3. To explode; as, the boiler blew up.
  4. To reprove angrily; to scold. [Slang] To bring up. See under Bring, v. t. To come up with. See under Come, v. i. To cut up. See under Cut, v. t. & i. To draw up. See under Draw, v. t. To grow up, to grow to maturity. Up anchor (Naut.), the order to man the windlass preparatory to hauling up the anchor. Up and down.
    1. First up, and then down; from one state or position to another. See under Down, adv.
      
      Fortune . . . led him up and down.
      --Chaucer.
    2. (Naut.) Vertical; perpendicular; -- said of the cable when the anchor is under, or nearly under, the hawse hole, and the cable is taut.
      --Totten.
      
      Up helm (Naut.), the order given to move the tiller toward the upper, or windward, side of a vessel.
      
      Up to snuff. See under Snuff. [Slang]
      
      What is up? What is going on? [Slang]

To blow up

Blow \Blow\, v. i. [imp. Blew (bl[=u]); p. p. Blown (bl[=o]n); p. pr. & vb. n. Blowing.] [OE. blawen, blowen, AS. bl[=a]wan to blow, as wind; akin to OHG. pl[=a]jan, G. bl["a]hen, to blow up, swell, L. flare to blow, Gr. 'ekflai`nein to spout out, and to E. bladder, blast, inflate, etc., and perh. blow to bloom.]

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 !
--Walton.
To send forth a forcible current of air, as from the mouth or from a pair of bellows.
To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.

Here is Mistress Page at the door, sweating and blowing.
--Shak.
To sound on being blown into, as a trumpet.

There let the pealing organ blow.
--Milton.
To spout water, etc., from the blowholes, as a whale.
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.
--M. Arnold.
To talk loudly; to boast; to storm. [Colloq.]

You blow behind my back, but dare not say anything to my face.
--Bartlett.
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.
To deflate by sudden loss of air; usually used with out; -- of inflatable tires. To blow hot and cold (a saying derived from a fable of [AE]sop's), 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.
1. To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapor; as, a steam cock or valve sometimes blows out.
2. 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.''
  --Tatler.

To blow up

Blow \Blow\, v. t.

To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means; as, to blow the fire.
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.
--Milton.
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?
--Shak.

Boy, blow the pipe until the bubble rise, Then cast it off to float upon the skies.
--Parnell.
To clear of contents by forcing air through; as, to blow an egg; to blow one's nose.
To burst, shatter, or destroy by an explosion; -- usually with up, down, open, or similar adverb; as, to blow up a building.
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.
--Dryden.

His language does his knowledge blow.
--Whiting.
To form by inflation; to swell by injecting air; as, to blow bubbles; to blow glass.
To inflate, as with pride; to puff up.

Look how imagination blows him.
--Shak.
To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue; as, to blow a horse.
--Sir W. Scott.
To deposit eggs or larv[ae] upon, or in (meat, etc.).

To suffer The flesh fly blow my mouth.
--Shak.
To perform an act of fellatio on; to stimulate another's penis with one's mouth; -- usually considered vulgar.
to smoke (e. g. marijuana); to blow pot. [colloq.]
to botch; to bungle; as, he blew his chance at a good job by showing up late for the interview. [colloq.]
to leave; to depart from; as, to blow town. [slang]
to squander; as, he blew his inheritance gambling. 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.
1. To fill with air; to swell; as, to blow up a bladder or bubble.
2. 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.''
  --Milton.
3. To excite; as, to blow up a contention.
4. To burst, to raise into the air, or to scatter, by an explosion; as, to blow up a fort.
5. 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. --G. Eliot. To blow upon.
  1. To blast; to taint; to bring into discredit; to render stale, unsavory, or worthless.
  2. 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.
    --C. Lamb.
    
    A lady's maid whose character had been blown upon.
    --Macaulay.

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What is "to blow up"

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