blow up
Word Rarity
Uncommon
Frequency: 4.58 in modern English
13
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see blow, up.
verb
To cause (something or someone) to explode, or to destroy (something) or maim or kill (someone) by means of an explosion.
Transitive verb
Example Sentences
- "See if you can blow the bubbles up the staircase."
- "Trying blowing up it at an angle instead of directly across it."
- "Why do cars in movies always blow up when they fall off a cliff?"
- "In dense fog at about 10.25 p.m. on the night of October 25, two tank barges carrying petroleum [...] missed the entrance to the docks at Sharpness and were carried up the River Severn by the incoming tide. They collided with one of the piers of the Severn Bridge, carrying the Berkeley Road-Lydney branch of the Western Region, and as a result of the collision both tankers blew up."
- "There were so many things she wanted to know so desperately that Jessamy began to feel she would burst if she did not find out at once. At last, throwing caution to the winds, she put down the basket with a bump. “Kitto, I must ask you or I shall blow up. […]”"
- "The world's smallest violin / Really needs an audience / So if I do not find somebody soon (That's right, that's right) / I'll blow up into smithereens"
Etymology
From Middle English blow up, blowe up, dissimilated forms of earlier Middle English upblowen (> English upblow), equivalent to blow + up. Compare West Frisian opblaze (“to blow up, inflate”), Dutch opblazen (“to blow up, inflate”), German aufblähen and aufblasen (“to blow up, inflate”), Swedish blåsa upp (“to blow up, inflate”), Icelandic blása upp (“to blow up, inflate”), Gothic 𐌿𐍆𐌱𐌻𐌴𐍃𐌰𐌽 (ufblēsan, “to blow or puff up”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Usage
Inflected Forms
Phrases
blowing up
blow me up
blow someone's skirt up
blow-up
blow up in one's face
blow up one's spot
blow up someone's spot
blow up the spot