blow

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"We want the speed to be slow enough so that the whales ... have a chance to get out of the way, or the blow will be a glancing blow, and they will survive," NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. said in a telephone news conference yesterday.

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Definitions (173)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (67)

  1. intransitive verb To be in a state of motion. Used of the air or of wind.
  2. intransitive verb To move along or be carried by or as if by the wind: Her hat blew away.
  3. intransitive verb To expel a current of air, as from the mouth or from a bellows.
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Examples (50)

  • "We want the speed to be slow enough so that the whales ... have a chance to get out of the way, or the blow will be a glancing blow, and they will survive," NOAA Administrator Conrad C. Lautenbacher Jr. said in a telephone news conference yesterday. —  legitgov
  • Look at how big the blow was and how difficult the consequences are in dealing with such a blow. —  Esquire.com Article Feed
  • Prosecutors at Birmingham Crown Court, where Lee Moffitt stands trial for killing Gavin Regan, say the blow was the moment the defendant plunged a knife through his victim's liver and heart. —  icCoventry
  • Another blow was abusing the world-wide sympathy we had after 9 / 11 by ruining our image in the world. —  The Full Feed from HuffingtonPost.com
  • Softening the blow was the announcement that there will be several added entertainment elements, including a pro women's beach volleyball tournament and a concert featuring Rock 'n Roll Hall of Famer ZZ Top, contemporary rockers Buckcherry and a local group yet to be announced.
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

stroke ·  wind ·  thrust ·  shoot ·  blast ·  attack ·  sound ·  pain ·  fall ·  move ·  cry ·  cut

Used in the same contextWord Family

blow:   blows ·  blew ·  blowing ·  blown
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (7)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan; see bhlē- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English blaw.
  3. From Middle English blowen, to bloom, from Old English blōwan; see bhel-3 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. = Scots blaw, from Middle English blowen, blawen (preterit blew, blewe, bleu, blwe, blu, past participle blown, blowen, bloun, blawen), from Anglo-Saxon blāwan (strong verb, preterit bleów, past participle blāwen), blow, = Old High German blāhan (strong verb, past participle blāhan, blān), blow, also blāen, blājan, Middle High German blœwen, blœjen, German blähen (weak verb), blow, puff up, swell, = Latin flāre, blow. From the same root, with various formatives, come English blaze, blast, bladder, perhaps blister, and, from the L., flatus, afflatus, flatulent, inflate, etc.
  2. from blow, v.
  3. from Middle English blowen (preterit *blewe, bleou, past participle blown, blowen, blowe), from Anglo-Saxon blōwan (preterit bleów, past participle geblōwen), blossom, flower, flourish, = Old Saxon blōjan = OFries. blōia = Dutch bloeijen = Old High German bluojan, Middle High German blüejen, blüen, German blühen, blow, bloom, = Latin florere (a secondary form), bloom, flourish; cf. flōs (flor-), a flower. From the same root, with various formatives, come bloom (and prob. bloom), blossom, blowth, blood, and, from the L., flower, flour, flourish, effloresce, etc.
  4. Early modern English also blowe, bloe, from late Middle English (Scots) blaw; origin uncertain. Plausibly explained as from an unrecorded verb, Middle English *blewen, from Anglo-Saxon *bleówan (strong verb, preterit *bleáw, past participle *blowen) = Middle Dutch blouwen, blaeuwen, strike, beat, Dutch blouwen, beat, especially beat or break flax or hemp, = Middle Low German bluwen, Low German bläuen = Old High German bliuwan, bliwan, Middle High German bliuwen, bliwen, German bläuen, beat, drub (in G. and Low German modified under association with blau, blue, as in ‘beat black and blue’), = Gothic (Moesogothic) bliggwan, strike, beat; not related to L. fligere, strike, beat (later ult. English afflict, inflict, etc.), flagellum, a flail (later ult. English flail, flagellate, etc.). The absence of the verb from Middle English and Anglo-Saxon records is remarkable (the ordinary Anglo-Saxon word for ‘strike’ was sleán, later English slay), but the cognate forms favor its existence.
 

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