Chapter 58

2. (Com.) A wastebook, in which entries of transactions are made as they take place. BlotÏtesque¶ (?), a. (Painting) Characterized by blots or heavy touches; coarsely depicted; wanting in delineation. Ruskin. Blot¶ting pa·per (?). A kind of thick, bibulous, unsized paper, used to absorb superfluous ink from freshly written manuscript, and thus prevent blots. Blouse (?), n. [F. blouse. Of unknown origin.] A light, loose overÏgarment, like a smock frock, worn especially by workingmen in France; also, a loose coat of any material, as the undress uniform coat of the United States army. Blow (?), v. i. [imp. Blew (?); p. p. Blown (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blowing.] [OE. blowen, AS. bl?wan to blossom; akin to OS. bl?jan, D. bloeijen, OHG. pluojan, MHG. bl?ejen, G. blhen, L. florere to flourish, OIr. blath blossom. Cf. Blow to puff, Flourish.] To flower; to blossom; to bloom. How blows the citron grove. Milton. Blow, v. t. To cause to blossom; to put forth (blossoms or flowers). The odorous banks, that blow Flowers of more mingled hue. Milton. Blow, n. (Bot.) A blossom; a flower; also, a state of blossoming; a mass of blossoms. ½Such a blow of tulips.¸ Tatler. Blow, n. [OE. blaw, blowe; cf. OHG. bliuwan, pliuwan, to beat, G. bl„uen, Goth. bliggwan.] 1. A forcible stroke with the hand, fist, or some instrument, as a rod, a club, an ax, or a sword. Well struck ! there was blow for blow. Shak. 2. A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault. A vigorous blow might win [Hanno's camp]. T. Arnold. 3. The infliction of evil; a sudden calamity; something which produces mental, physical, or financial suffering or loss (esp. when sudden); a buffet. A most poor man, made tame to fortune's blows. Shak. At a blow, suddenly; at one effort; by a single vigorous act. ½They lose a province at a blow.¸ Dryden. Ð To come to blows, to engage in combat; to fight; Ð said of individuals, armies, and nations. Syn. Ð Stroke; knock; shock; misfortune. Blow, v. i. [imp. Blew (?); p. p. Blown (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blowing.] [OE. blawen, blowen, AS. bl?wan to blow, as wind; akin to OHG. pl?jan, G. bl„hen, to blow up, swell, L. flare to blow, Gr. ? to spout out, and to E. bladder, blast, inflate, etc., and perh. blow to bloom.] 1. To produce a current of air; to move, as air, esp. to move rapidly or with power; as, the wind blows. Hark how it rains and blows ! Walton. 2. To send forth a forcible current of air, as from the mouth or from a pair of bellows. 3. To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff. Here is Mistress Page at the door, sweating and blowing. Shak. 4. To sound on being blown into, as a trumpet. There let the pealing organ blow. Milton. 5. To spout water, etc., from the blowholes, as a whale. 6. To be carried or moved by the wind; as, the dust blows in from the street. The grass blows from their graves to thy own. M. Arnold. 7. To talk loudly; to boast; to storm. [Colloq.] You blow behind my back, but dare not say anything to my face. Bartlett. To blow hot and cold (a saying derived from a fable of ?sop's), to favor a thing at one time and treat it coldly at another; or to appear both to favor and to oppose. Ð To blow off, to let steam escape through a passage provided for the purpose; as, the engine or steamer is blowing off. Ð To blow out. (a) To be driven out by the expansive force of a gas or vapor; as, a steam cock or valve sometimes blows out. (b) To talk violently or abusively. [Low] Ð To blow over, to pass away without effect; to cease, or be dissipated; as, the storm and the clouds have blown over. Ð To blow up, to be torn to pieces and thrown into the air as by an explosion of powder or gas or the expansive force of steam; to burst; to explode; as, a powder mill or steam boiler blows up. ½The enemy's magazines blew up.¸ Tatler. Blow, v. t. 1. To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means; as, to blow the fire. 2. To drive by a current air; to impel; as, the tempest blew the ship ashore. Off at sea northeast winds blow Sabean odors from the spicy shore. Milton. 3. To cause air to pass through by the action of the mouth, or otherwise; to cause to sound, as a wind instrument; as, to blow a trumpet; to blow an organ. Hath she no husband That will take pains to blow a horn before her? Shak. Boy, blow the pipe until the bubble rise, Then cast it off to float upon the skies. Parnell. 4. To clear of contents by forcing air through; as, to blow an egg; to blow one's nose. 5. To burst, shatter, or destroy by an explosion; Ð usually with up, down, open, or similar adverb; as, to blow up a building. 6. To spread by report; to publish; to disclose. Through the court his courtesy was blown. Dryden. His language does his knowledge blow. Whiting. 7. To form by inflation; to swell by injecting air; as, to blow bubbles; to blow glass. 8. To inflate, as with pride; to puff up. Look how imagination blows him. Shak. 9. To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue; as, to blow a horse. Sir W. Scott. 10. To deposit eggs or larv‘ 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; Ð said of the wind at sea or along the coast. Ð To blow off, to empty (a boiler) of water through the blowÏoff pipe, while under steam pressure; also, to eject (steam, water, sediment, etc.) from a boiler. Ð To blow one's own trumpet, to vaunt one's own exploits, or sound one's own praises. Ð To blow out, to extinguish by a current of air, as a candle. Ð To blow up. (a) To fill with air; to swell; as, to blow up a bladder or bubble. (b) To inflate, as with pride, selfÏconceit, etc.; to puff up; as, to blow one up with flattery. ½Blown 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 Ð nobody can say I wink at what he does. G. Eliot. Ð 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. [Low] 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; Ð so called by seamen, from the circumstance of its spouting up a column of water. 5. (Zo”l.) A small fish of the Atlantic coast (Tetrodon turgidus); the puffer. 6. A braggart, or loud talker. [Slang] Bartlett. Blow¶fly· (?), n. (Zo”l.) Any species of fly of the genus Musca that deposits its eggs or young larv‘ (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; Ð 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. µ 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. 2. Stale; worthless. 3. Out of breath; tired; exhausted. ½Their horses much blown.¸ Sir W. Scott. 4. Covered with the eggs and larv‘ of flies; fly blown. Blown, p. p. & a. Opened; in blossom or having blossomed, as a flower. Shak. Blow¶Ðoff· (?), n. 1. A blowing off steam, water, etc. Ð Also, adj.; as, a blowÐoff cock or pipe. 2. An outburst of temper or excitement. [Colloq.] Blow¶Ðout· (?), n. The cleaning of the flues of a boiler from scale, etc., by a blast of steam. Blow¶pipe· (?), n. 1. A tube for directing a jet of air into a fire or into the flame of a lamp or candle, so as to concentrate the heat on some object. µ It is called a mouth blowpipe when used with the mouth; but for both chemical and industrial purposes, it is often worked by a bellows or other contrivance. The common mouth blowpipe is a tapering tube with a very small orifice at the end to be inserted in the flame. The oxyhydrogen blowpipe, invented by Dr. Hare in 1801, is an instrument in which oxygen and hydrogen, taken from separate reservoirs, in the proportions of two volumes of hydrogen to one of oxygen, are burned in a jet, under pressure. It gives a heat that will consume the diamond, fuse platinum, and dissipate in vapor, or in gaseous forms, most known substances. 2. A blowgun; a blowtube. Blowpipe analysis (Chem.), analysis by means of the blowpipe. Ð Blowpipe reaction (Chem.), the characteristic behavior of a substance subjected to a test by means of the blowpipe. Blow¶point· (?), n. A child's game. [Obs.] Blowse , n. See Blowze. Blowth (?), n. [From Blow to blossom: cf. Growth.] A blossoming; a bloom. [Obs. or Archaic] ½In the blowth and bud.¸ Sir W. Raleigh. Blow¶tube· (?), n. 1. A blowgun. Tylor. 2. A similar instrument, commonly of tin, used by boys for discharging paper wads and other light missiles. 3. (Glassmaking) A long wrought iron tube, on the end of which the workman gathers a quantity of ½metal¸ (melted glass), and through which he blows to expand or shape it; Ð called also blowing tube, and blowpipe. Blow¶ valve· (?). (Mach.) See Snifting valve. Blow¶y (?), a. Windy; as, blowy weather; a blowy upland. Blowze (?), n. [Prob. from the same root as blush.] A ruddy, fatÏfaced woman; a wench. [Obs.] Shak. Blowzed (?), a. Having high color from exposure to the weather; ruddyÏfaced; blowzy; disordered. Huge women blowzed with health and wind. Tennyson. Blowz¶y (?), a. Coarse and ruddyÏfaced; fat and ruddy; high colored; frowzy. Blub (?), v. t. & i. [Cf. Bleb, Blob.] To swell; to puff out, as with weeping. [Obs.] Blub¶ber (?), n. [See Blobber, Blob, Bleb.] 1. A bubble. At his mouth a blubber stood of foam. Henryson. 2. The fat of whales and other large sea animals from which oil is obtained. It lies immediately under the skin and over the muscular flesh. 3. (Zo”l.) A large sea nettle or medusa. Blub¶ber, v. i. [imp. & p.p. Blubbered (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Blubbering.] To weep noisily, or so as to disfigure the face; to cry in a childish manner. She wept, she blubbered, and she tore her hair. Swift. Blub¶ber, v. t. 1. To swell or disfigure (the face) with weeping; to wet with tears. Dear Cloe, how blubbered is that pretty face! Prior. 2. To give vent to (tears) or utter (broken words or cries); Ð with forth or out. Blub¶bered (?), p. p. & a. Swollen; turgid; as, a blubbered lip. Spenser. Blub¶berÏing, n. The act of weeping noisily. He spake well save that his blubbering interrupted him. Winthrop. Blub¶berÏy (?), a. 1. Swollen; protuberant. 2. Like blubber; gelatinous and quivering; as, a blubbery mass. Blu¶cher (?), n. A kind of half boot, named from the Prussian general Blcher. Thackeray. Bludg¶eon (?), n. [Cf. Ir. blocan a little block, Gael. plocan a mallet, W. plocyn, dim. of ploc block; or perh. connected with E. blow a stroke. Cf. Block, Blow a stroke.] A short stick, with one end loaded, or thicker and heavier that the other, used as an offensive weapon. Blue (?), a. [Compar. Bluer (?); superl. Bluest.] [OE. bla, blo, blew, blue, Sw. bl?, D. blauw, OHG. bl?o, G. blau; but influenced in form by F. bleu, from OHG. bl¾o.] 1. Having the color of the clear sky, or a hue resembling it, whether lighter or darker; as, the deep, blue sea; as blue as a sapphire; blue violets. ½The blue firmament.¸ Milton. 2. Pale, without redness or glare, Ð said of a flame; hence, of the color of burning brimstone, betokening the presence of ghosts or devils; as, the candle burns blue; the air was blue with oaths. 3. Low in spirits; melancholy; as, to feel blue. 4. Suited to produce low spirits; gloomy in prospect; as, thongs looked blue. [Colloq.] 5. Severe or over strict in morals; gloom; as, blue and sour religionists; suiting one who is over strict in morals; inculcating an impracticable, severe, or gloomy mortality; as, blue laws. 6. Literary; Ð applied to women; Ð an abbreviation of bluestocking. [Colloq.] The ladies were very blue and well informed. Thackeray. Blue asbestus. See Crocidolite. Ð Blue black, of, or having, a very dark blue color, almost black. Ð Blue blood. See under Blood. Ð Blue buck (Zo”l.), a small South African antelope (Cephalophus pygm‘us); also applied to a larger species (?goceras leucoph‘us); the blaubok. Ð Blue cod (Zo”l.), the buffalo cod. Ð Blue crab (Zo”l.), the common edible crab of the Atlantic coast of the United States (Callinectes hastatus). Ð Blue curls (Bot.), a common plant (Trichostema dichotomum), resembling pennyroyal, and hence called also bastard pennyroyal. Ð Blue devils, apparitions supposed to be seen by persons suffering with delirium tremens; hence, very low spirits. ½Can Gumbo shut the hall door upon blue devils, or lay them all in a red sea of claret?¸ Thackeray. Ð Blue gage. See under Gage, a plum. Ð Blue gum, an Australian myrtaceous tree (Eucalyptus globulus), of the loftiest proportions, now cultivated in tropical and warm temperate regions for its timber, and as a protection against malaria. The essential oil is beginning to be used in medicine. The timber is very useful. See Eucalyptus. Ð Blue jack, Blue stone, blue vitriol; sulphate of copper. Ð Blue jacket, a manÏof war's man; a sailor wearing a naval uniform. Ð Blue jaundice. See under Jaundice. Ð Blue laws, a name first used in the eighteenth century to describe certain supposititious laws of extreme rigor reported to have been enacted in New Haven; hence, any puritanical laws. [U. S.] Ð Blue light, a composition which burns with a brilliant blue flame; Ð used in pyrotechnics and as a night signal at sea, and in military operations. Ð Blue mantle (Her.), one of the four pursuivants of the English college of arms; Ð so called from the color of his official robes. Ð Blue mass, a preparation of mercury from which is formed the blue pill. McElrath. Ð Blue mold, or mould, the blue fungus (Aspergillus glaucus) which grows on cheese. Brande & C. Ð Blue Monday, a Monday following a Sunday of dissipation, or itself given to dissipation (as the Monday before Lent). Ð Blue ointment (Med.), mercurial ointment. Ð Blue Peter (British Marine), a blue flag with a white square in the center, used as a signal for sailing, to recall boats, etc. It is a corruption of blue repeater, one of the British signal flags. Ð Blue pill. (Med.) (a) A pill of prepared mercury, used as an aperient, etc. (b) Blue mass. Ð Blue ribbon. (a) The ribbon worn by

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