BLOW OUT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does blow out mean? 

• BLOW OUT (verb)
  The verb BLOW OUT has 3 senses:

1. melt, break, or become otherwise unusable

2. put out, as of fires, flames, or lights

3. erupt in an uncontrolled manner

  Familiarity information: BLOW OUT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLOW OUT (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Melt, break, or become otherwise unusable

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

blow; blow out; burn out

Context example:

The fuse blew

Hypernyms (to "blow out" is one way to...):

break; break down; conk out; die; fail; give out; give way; go; go bad (stop operating or functioning)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

blowout (a sudden malfunction of a part or apparatus)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Put out, as of fires, flames, or lights

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Synonyms:

blow out; extinguish; quench; snuff out

Context example:

snuff out the candles

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "blow out"):

stub (extinguish by crushing)

douse; put out (put out, as of a candle or a light)

black out (obliterate or extinguish)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Sense 3

Meaning:

Erupt in an uncontrolled manner

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

Context example:

The oil well blew out

Hypernyms (to "blow out" is one way to...):

catch fire; combust; conflagrate; erupt; ignite; take fire (start to burn or burst into flames)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

 Context examples 

Twice I opened my pistol-case to blow out my brains, and it was but the thought that Nelson might have a use for me that held me back.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Even localized warming would have been enough to turn the liquid nitrogen into vapor, cause it to expand quickly and blow out a crater.

(New Models Suggest Titan Lakes Are Explosion Craters, NASA)

He was tractable enough, though his son was a perfect demon, ready to blow out his own or anybody else’s brains if he could have got to his revolver.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Now blow out the trumpets, and may God's benison be with the honest men!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)