English

Verb

blow up ‎(third-person singular simple present blows up, present participle blowing up, simple past blew up, past participle blown up)

1. (intransitive) To explode or be destroyed by explosion.

   Why do cars in movies always blow up when they fall off a cliff?

2. (transitive) To cause (something or someone) to explode, or to destroy (something) or maim or kill (someone) by means of an explosion.

   We had to blow up the bridge before the enemy army arrived.

   More civilians than soldiers have been blown up by anti-personnel mines.

3. (transitive) To inflate or fill with air.

   Blow up the balloons.

4. (transitive) To enlarge or zoom in.

   Blow up the picture to get a better look at their faces.

5. (intransitive) To fail disastrously.
   • 2002, Joan Barfoot, Critical injuries, page 118:

     So I wish you luck, but don't come crying to me when it blows up in your face.

6. (slang, intransitive) To become popular very quickly.

   This album is about to blow up; they’re being promoted on MTV.

7. (slang) To suddenly get very angry.

   Dad blew up at me when I told him I was pregnant.

8. (slang, intransitive) To become much more fat or rotund in a short space of time.
9. (transitive, dated) To inflate, as with pride, self-conceit, etc.; to puff up.

   to blow someone up with flattery

   • Milton

     blown up with high conceits engendering pride

10. (transitive, dated) To excite.

    to blow up a contention

11. (transitive, dated) To scold violently.

    to blow up a person for some offence

    • George Eliot

      I have blown him up well — nobody can say I wink at what he does.

12. (sports) To blow the whistle.

    ANOTHER PENALTY: Frickson Erazo with a high challenge in the area on the onrushing Lizio and Aguilar blows up for a spot kick.

13. (cycling) To succumb to the oxygen debt and lose the ability to maintain pace in a race.

Usage notes

In senses 2, 3, and 4 the object may appear before or after the particle. If the object is a pronoun, then it must be before the particle.

Translations

Derived terms

• blow up in one's face
• blow up someone's phone

Anagrams

• upblow