Etymologically
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blow

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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
  • 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)