blow

English has three words spelled blow: the verb “to move air”, from Old English blāwan; an archaic verb “to bloom”, from Old English blōwan; and the noun “a hard hit”, of uncertain origin.^[1][2][3]

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /bləʊ/, US /bloʊ/^[4]

blow¹ move air

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English blowen, blawen (1127),^[2][3] inherited from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe; kindle; inflate; sound a wind instrument”), a strong verb with past tense blēow and past participle blāwen,^[5][2][1] from Proto-Germanic *blæ-anan,^[5][2] also the source of Old High German blāen and German blähen “to blow up, swell”.^[5][2][6] According to Watkins it is from Proto-Indo-European *bhle- (“to blow”),^[5][1] the root also of Latin flāre (“to blow”).^[2][1][6] Merriam-Webster Unabridged gives its basic meaning as “to swell”.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

Of the wind, “to move, produce a current of air”, and of breath from the mouth: about 1000 in the OED,^[7] about 725 in Barnhart, who notes that all other senses developed after the Old English period.^[2]

Semantic evolution

“To carry by a current of air” is from about 1300,^[5] to make a hissing or whistling sound from 1340,^[7] and “to inflate” from the late 14th century,^[5] as is blow out, to put out a candle.^[5] To pant or puff is from about 1440.^[7] Blow hot and cold, to keep changing one's mind, is from 1577 in the OED,^[7] the 1570s in Etymonline, and comes from Aesop's fable of a man who blew on his hands to warm them and on his porridge to cool it.^[5][8] Blow over, of storms, is from the 1610s,^[5] and of nose-blowing from the 1530s.^[5] Of whales spouting it is from 1725.^[7] Blow off steam, from steam engines, is from 1837.^[5] “To squander money” is from 1874,^[5] of fuses from 1902,^[5] “to depart suddenly” from 1902,^[5] and “to bungle” an opportunity from 1943.^[5] As an exclamation, associated with sailors, it is from 1781, with the past participle blowed.^[5] Blow one's mind is from 1967.^[5] The noun, a blast of wind, is from the late 15th century,^[9] and a boast from Merriam-Webster.^[10]

Timeline

• c. 725 – Old English blāwan.^[2]
• c. 1300 – to carry by wind.^[5]
• late 14th century – to inflate, and blow out.^[5]
• 1577 – blow hot and cold.^[7]
• 1610s – blow over.^[5]
• 1725 – of whales.^[7]
• 1781 – as an exclamation.^[5]
• 1837 – blow off steam.^[5]
• 1874 – to squander.^[5]
• 1902 – of fuses; to leave suddenly.^[5]
• 1943 – to bungle.^[5]
• 1967 – blow one's mind.^[5]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. Of air or wind, to be in motion.
2. To be carried or moved by the wind.
3. To force out a current of air, as from the mouth.
4. To sound (a wind instrument or a whistle) by forcing air through it.
5. To shape (glass) by forcing air into it.
6. To burst or melt, as a fuse or a tyre.
7. (informal) To spend (money) freely; to squander.
8. (informal) To spoil by a mistake: blew his chance.
9. (informal) To leave hurriedly.

Noun

1. A blast of air or wind; a gale.
2. An act of blowing.

Word family

• blower
• blowpipe
• blowtorch
• blow-dry
• blowout
• blowhole

blow² bloom

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English blowen, inherited from Old English blōwan (“to flower, blossom, flourish”),^[5][1][3] from Proto-Germanic *blō-,^[1][5] also the source of Old Saxon blōjan, Dutch bloeien and German blühen,^[5][1] from Proto-Indo-European *bhel- (“to thrive, bloom”),^[5] the root also of Latin flōs “flower” and florēre “to bloom”.^[3] It is related to bloom, blossom and blade.^[1]

Earliest recorded meaning

“To burst into flower, blossom”: about 1000 in the OED.^[7]

Semantic evolution

The figurative “to flourish, attain perfection” is from 1610,^[7] about 1600 in Etymonline.^[5] The past participle survives in full-blown.^[5] The noun, a display of blossoms, is from the early 18th century, and blossoming from the mid-18th, now archaic.^[9] In Scotland and England a blow was still a bud or blossom in dialect.^[11]

Timeline

• c. 1000 – to blossom.^[7]
• 1610 – to flourish.^[7]
• early 18th century – noun, a display of blossoms.^[9]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. (archaic) To bloom or blossom.

Noun

1. (archaic) A mass of blossoms, or the state of blooming.

Word family

• full-blown

blow³ hit

Etymology

Its origin is uncertain.^[1][6] It is first found in northern and East Midland dialects, as blaw and blowe,^[5][2] perhaps from Middle Dutch blouwen “to beat”,^[5][2] or from an unrecorded Old English word related to Old High German bliuwan, German bleuen and Gothic bliggwan “to strike”.^[5][2][3] It was influenced by the verb “to move air”,^[5][2] and Word Origins treats it as developed from a blast of wind.^[8] The usual Old English word for striking was slēan, the source of slay.^[5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A hard hit with the fist or a weapon: the mid-15th century,^[5][9] before 1500 in Barnhart, with the northern blaw “a blast of wind” before 1460.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Fall to blows is from the 1590s and come to blows from the 1650s.^[5] The figurative sense of a sudden shock or calamity is from the 1670s.^[5] Blow-by-blow, of a detailed account, is from 1921 in American English, first of radio commentaries on prize fights.^[5] At one blow means at a single stroke.^[9]

Timeline

• mid-15th century – a hard hit.^[5][9]
• 1590s – fall to blows.^[5]
• 1650s – come to blows.^[5]
• 1670s – a sudden shock.^[5]
• 1921 – blow-by-blow.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A hard stroke with the hand, a weapon or an implement.
2. A sudden shock or misfortune.
3. A sudden attack or effort.

Word family

• blow-by-blow

Related words

• insufflate
• bloom
• blossom
• flatulent
• inflate

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
3. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c Pearsall, Judy, ed. (1998), The New Oxford Dictionary of English, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b Cresswell, Julia (2021), Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ a b c d e f Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
11. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)