blow

A2 Topic:The Human Body

Also spelled a-blowin and blawin

US /blaː/ UK /bləʊ/ See IPA manual

noun verb Freq #927

Meanings

1

verb
To push air out through your mouth.

She blew on the soup to cool it down.
2

verb
To clear your nose by forcing air through it.

He took out a tissue and blew his nose.
3

noun
A hard hit with the hand or a weapon.

He received a heavy blow to the head.
4

verb
To stop working suddenly by breaking or bursting.

The car tyre blew on the motorway.
5

verb
To ruin a chance or reveal a secret carelessly.

One careless word and you blew our cover.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

3 noun · a hard hit with the hand or... bump

4 verb · to stop working suddenly by... blow outburn out

Word family

Forms blewblowedblowingblownblowsunblown

Derived forms alcoblowale-blownbeblowblortblow-byblow-by-blowblow-dryblow-inblow-organblow-waveblowabilityblowable

Related forms ablowelder-blowinsufflate

Common collocations

Etymology

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”)).

*bʰleh₁- Proto-Indo-European blowen Middle English blāwan Old English *blāan Proto-West Germanic *blēaną Proto-Germanic

View etymology graph ->

Topics

The Human Body

# blow

**Type:** Word
**Level:** A2
**Part of speech:** noun, verb
**IPA (US):** blaː
**IPA (UK):** bləʊ
**Frequency rank:** 927

## Meanings
1. To push air out through your mouth.
2. To clear your nose by forcing air through it.
3. A hard hit with the hand or a weapon.
4. To stop working suddenly by breaking or bursting.
5. To ruin a chance or reveal a secret carelessly.

## Examples
- She blew on the soup to cool it down.
- He took out a tissue and blew his nose.
- He received a heavy blow to the head.
- The car tyre blew on the motorway.
- One careless word and you blew our cover.

## Derived Forms
- alcoblow
- ale-blown
- beblow
- blort
- blow-by
- blow-by-blow
- blow-dry
- blow-in
- blow-organ
- blow-wave
- blowability
- blowable

## Related Forms
- ablow
- elder-blow
- insufflate

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: *bʰleh₁-
- Root: blowen
- Root: blāwan
- Root: *blāan
- Root: *blēaną

## Etymology
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”)).

## AI Etymology
Blow comes 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”)).

## Topics
- The Human Body

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