blow up
Britishverb
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to explode or cause to explode
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(tr) to increase the importance of (something)
they blew the whole affair up
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(intr) to come into consideration
we lived well enough before this thing blew up
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(intr) to come into existence with sudden force
a storm had blown up
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informal to lose one's temper (with a person)
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informal (tr) to reprimand (someone)
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informal (tr) to enlarge the size or detail of (a photograph)
noun
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an explosion
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informal an enlarged photograph or part of a photograph
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informal a fit of temper or argument
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Also called: blowing up. informal a reprimand
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Explode or cause to explode. For example, The squadron was told to blow up the bridge , or Jim was afraid his experiment would blow up the lab . The term is sometimes amplified, as in blow up in one's face . [Late 1500s]
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Lose one's temper, as in I'm sorry I blew up at you . Mark Twain used this metaphor for an actual explosion in one of his letters (1871): “Redpath tells me to blow up. Here goes!” [ Colloquial ; second half of 1800s]
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Inflate, fill with air, as in If you don't blow up those tires you're sure to have a flat . [Early 1400s]
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Enlarge, especially a photograph, as in If we blow up this picture, you'll be able to make out the expressions on their faces . [c. 1930]
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Exaggerate the importance of something or someone, as in Tom has a tendency to blow up his own role in the affair . This term applies the “inflate” of def. 3 to importance. It was used in this sense in England from the early 1500s to the 1700s, but then became obsolete there although it remains current in America.
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Collapse, fail, as in Graduate-student marriages often blow up soon after the couple earn their degrees . [ Slang ; mid-1800s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
O'Neill has dragged them forward by the scruff of the neck, but it has all looked very tired, very stressful, very on the edge of blowing up.
From BBC
Aviation security specialists warn that many blow up or fail en route to their targets, exposing aircraft underneath their trajectories to falling debris.
Our hope is that, launching around “Scream 7,” it’s going to catch the zeitgeist and blow up.
From Los Angeles Times
Papa saw that I was about to blow up and came to my rescue.
From Literature
USC coach Lincoln Riley said staff change was inevitable, but he managed changes that he hopes will not blow up the team’s progress on defense.
From Los Angeles Times
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
