Part 708

10. To deposit eggs or larvæ upon, or in (meat, etc.).

To suffer The flesh fly blow my mouth. Shak.

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. (a) To fill with air; to swell; as, to blow up a bladder or bubble. (b) 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. (c) To excite; as, to blow up a contention. (d) To burst, to raise into the air, or to scatter, by an explosion; as, to blow up a fort. (e) 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. (a) To blast; to taint; to bring into discredit; to render stale, unsavory, or worthless. (b) 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.

Blow (&?;), n. 1. A blowing, esp., a violent blowing of the wind; a gale; as, a heavy blow came on, and the ship put back to port.

2. The act of forcing air from the mouth, or through or from some instrument; as, to give a hard blow on a whistle or horn; to give the fire a blow with the bellows.

3. The spouting of a whale.

4. (Metal.) A single heat or operation of the Bessemer converter. Raymond.

5. An egg, or a larva, deposited by a fly on or in flesh, or the act of depositing it. Chapman.

Blow"ball` (&?;), n. The downy seed head of a dandelion, which children delight to blow away. B. Jonson.

{ Blow"en (&?;), Blow"ess (&?;), } n. A prostitute; a courtesan; a strumpet. Smart.

Blow"er (&?;), n. 1. One who, or that which, blows.

2. (Mech.) A device for producing a current of air; as: (a) A metal plate temporarily placed before the upper part of a grate or open fire. (b) A machine for producing an artificial blast or current of air by pressure, as for increasing the draft of a furnace, ventilating a building or shaft, cleansing gram, etc.

3. A blowing out or excessive discharge of gas from a hole or fissure in a mine.

4. The whale; -- so called by seamen, from the circumstance of its spouting up a column of water.

5. (Zoöl.) A small fish of the Atlantic coast (Tetrodon turgidus); the puffer.

6. A braggart, or loud talker. [Slang] Bartlett.

Blow"fly` (&?;), n. (Zoöl.) Any species of fly of the genus Musca that deposits its eggs or young larvæ (called flyblows and maggots) upon meat or other animal products.

Blow"gun` (&?;), n. A tube, as of cane or reed, sometimes twelve feet long, through which an arrow or other projectile may be impelled by the force of the breath. It is a weapon much used by certain Indians of America and the West Indies; -- called also blowpipe, and blowtube. See Sumpitan.

Blow"hole` (&?;), n. 1. A cavern in a cliff, at the water level, opening to the air at its farther extremity, so that the waters rush in with each surge and rise in a lofty jet from the extremity.

2. A nostril or spiracle in the top of the head of a whale or other cetacean.

There are two spiracles or blowholes in the common whales, but only one in sperm whales, porpoises, etc.

3. A hole in the ice to which whales, seals, etc., come to breathe.

4. (Founding) An air hole in a casting.

Blown (&?;), p. p. & a. 1. Swollen; inflated; distended; puffed up, as cattle when gorged with green food which develops gas.