To bite the blow, phr. (old cant).—To steal goods; to Prig, which see
for synonyms.
Blow a Cloud, verbal phr. (colloquial).—To smoke a cigar or pipe;
Hotten says, ‘a phrase used two centuries ago’ but gives no authority,
and Murray’s earliest example only dates from 1855, but as will be seen
below, it occurs in Tom Crib in 1819.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 39.
... His fame I need not tell,
For that, my friends, all England’s loud with;
But this I’ll say, a civiller Swell
I’d never wish to blow a cloud with.
1870. M. Twain, Innocents Abroad, ch. vii. And blowing suffocating
‘clouds’ and boisterously performing at dominoes in the
smoking-room at night.
French Synonyms. Tubons en une (popular: ‘let’s blow a cloud’; tuber =
to smoke); piper; la fumerie (popular: smoking); faire du brouillard
(‘to produce or make a fog or mist’); en bourrer une; bouffarder. A
German Synonym is Esef schwächen, or schweihen.
Blow-Book, subs. (old).—A book containing indelicate or ‘smutty’
pictures.
1708. Post Man, 8 June. Last Sunday a person did pennance in the
Chapter-House of St. Paul’s, London, for publickly shewing in
Bartholomew Fair a book called a blow-book, in which were many
obscene and filthy pictures: the book was likewise burnt, and the
person paid costs.
Blowed. To be blowed, verb (familiar).—Blowed is here a euphemism for
‘damned’; to all intents and purposes, it is frequently little more
than a thinly-veiled oath. Hotten says that Tom Hood used to tell the
following story:—‘I was once asked to contribute to a new journal, not
exactly gratuitously, but at a very small advance upon nothing—and
avowedly because the work had been planned according to that estimate.
However, I accepted the terms conditionally—that is to say, provided
the principle could be properly carried out. Accordingly, I wrote to my
butcher, baker, and other tradesmen, informing them that it was
necessary, for the sake of cheap literature and the interest of the
reading public, that they should furnish me with their several
commodities at a very trifling per-centage above cost price. It will be
sufficient to quote the answer of the butcher:—“Sir,—Respectin’ your
note, Cheap literater be blowed! Butchers must live as well as other
pepel—and if so be you or the readin’ publick wants to have meat at
prime cost, you must buy your own beastesses, and kill yourselves.—I
remain, etc., John Stokes.”’
Cf., Blow me!
1835. Dickens, Sketches by Boz, p. 50. Others remonstrating with
the said Thomas Sludberry, on the impropriety of his conduct, the
said Thomas Sludberry repeated the aforesaid expression, ‘You be
blowed.’
1863. Jeaffreson, Live It Down, III., p. 249. (Cries of ‘Chair,
Chair,’ and ‘Order, order.’) ‘Order be blowed!’ exclaimed the
infuriated Mr. H.
1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. II., ch. v. ‘Holiday be
blowed!’ said Fledgely, entering, ‘What have you got to do with
holidays?’
1877. Five Years’ Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. ‘No,’ says
she, ‘we’ve got some more besides that, and enough, too, to take us
to France. Blowed, old man, if we don’t go to Paris, and there we
can get £300 for them.’
1879. Punch’s Almanac, p. 7. Seasonable Slang. For Spring.—You be
blowed! For Summer.—I’ll warm yer! For Autumn.—Not so blooming
green! For Winter.—An ice little game all round.
1889. Ally Sloper’s H. H., Aug. 3, p. 242, col. 2. ‘Blowed if I’d
have made her Mrs. Juggins, if I’d have known she wor going to make
a footstool of me!’
Blowen or Blowing, subs. (old.)—This word appears to have passed
through a series of ups and downs in the course of its career.
Originally signifying a woman, without special reference to moral
character, it subsequently came to mean a showy courtesan, or a
prostitute. It still retains the latter meaning, but is frequently used
in a more complimentary sense than heretofore to signify a finely built
handsome girl. In America among the criminal classes it is only used to
designate a mistress. Its derivation is extremely uncertain, the two
most important suggestions being that it comes (1) from the reputation
having been ‘blown upon’; and (2) that in Wilts blowen signifies a
blossom—hence blowen a flower; a pet.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., in wks. (1720) IV., 17. What
ogling there will be between thee and the blowings!
1789. Geo. Parker, Life’s Painter, p. 143. Blowen, a woman.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Blowen, a prostitute: a woman who
cohabits with a man without marriage.
1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. II., ch. ii. ‘If she’s a good girl, and
loves you, she’ll not let you spend your money on her.’ ‘I haint
such a ninny as that,’ said Beck, with majestic contempt. ‘I
’spises the flat that is done brown by the blowens.’
1848. C. Kingsley, Yeast, ch. xi. Why don’t they have a short
simple service now and then, that might catch the ears of the
roughs and the blowens, without tiring out the poor thoughtless
creatures’ patience, as they do now?
For synonyms in the sense of prostitute, see Barrack-hack.
Blower, subs. (old).—1. A girl; a contemptuous name in opposition to
jomer (q.v.); given by Grose [1785].
2. (American and Colonial.)—A good talker; a boaster; a ‘gas-bag.’ Cf.,
Blow, verb, sense 1.
1863. Manhattan, in Evening Standard, 10 Dec. General Grant ... is
not one of the blower generals. [M.]
1864. Spectator, 22 Oct., 1202, col. 1. Notorious among our bar and
the public as a blower. [M.]
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 584. ‘You need not blow so, my
friend. I don’t believe a word of what you say.’ Hence also the
noun blower, a braggart, with special reference to his success in
imitating Baron Munchausen.