blasted

English

WOTD – 20 November 2008

A blasted tree, in a 1581 work on heraldry.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈblɑːst.ɪd/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈblæst.ɪd/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: (UK) -ɑːstɪd, (US) -æstɪd

Verb

blasted

1. simple past and past participle of blast

Adjective

blasted (not comparable)

1. Subjected to an explosion.

   The remains of the blasted tank were testament to the power of the landmine it had hit.

2. Subjected to violent gusts of wind; storm-damaged.

   a blasted tree

   • 1846, [John Ruskin], chapter 4, in Modern Painters […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, part III (Of Ideas of Beauty), section II (Of the Imaginative Faculty), § 6, page 189:

     In the same way the blasted trunk on the left, in Turner's drawing of the spot where Harold fell at the battle of Hastings, takes, where its boughs first separate, the shape of the head of an arrow;

3. (heraldry, of a tree, bush, etc) Whose branches bear no leaves; leafless.
   • 1847, Henry Gough, A Glossary of Terms Used in British Heraldry: With a Chronological Table, Illustrative of Its Rise and Progress, page 57:

     BLASTED : leafless, applied to trees.
     Argent, three scrogs, blasted, sable. Blastock of that Ilk.

   • 1914, Beatrice Bush, Genealogy of the Descendants of John M. Bush and Jane Osterhoudt of Kingston, Ulster Co., N.Y., 1791-1914, page 7:

     A modified form of this coat of arms, consisting of a blasted oak, with new branches growing out near the base, and an acorn suspended [...]

4. (colloquial) Accursed; damned.

   I've tried for 2 hours to make this blasted part fit, and it still won’t go in.

   • 1908, G[ilbert] K[eith] Chesterton, The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare, Bristol: J[ames] W[illiams] Arrowsmith, […]; London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent & Company, →OCLC, page 212:

     You great fat, blasted, blear-eyed, blundering, thundering, brainless, God-forsaken, doddering, damned fool!

   • 1930, Norman Lindsay, Redheap, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1965, →OCLC, page 9:

     `I'm fed up with this blasted rot,' he exclaimed, as a general expression of emotion inspired by the Sabbath.

   • 1997, Thomas Pynchon, Mason & Dixon, 1st US edition, New York: Henry Holt and Company, →ISBN, part Two: America, page 320:

     With the evidence before me, gathering each day I doahn't wind the blasted Watch,— even so, I can't believe in it…?

   • 2017, David Walliams [pseudonym; David Edward Williams], Bad Dad, London: HarperCollins Children’s Books, →ISBN:

     “Whatever you do, don’t let that blasted woman in!”

5. (slang) Intoxicated, drunk.

   Dude, we got blasted last night.

Synonyms

• (subjected to explosion): exploded
• (exposed to wind):
• (cursed): See Thesaurus:damned
• (tree with no leaves):
• (intoxicated): See Thesaurus:drunk

Translations

subjected to explosion

• Finnish: räjähtänyt (fi)
• Italian: maledetto (it)
• Romanian: distrus (ro) m or n
• Russian: взорванный (ru) (vzorvannyj)

exposed to violent gusts of wind

• Maori: ngingio

cursed

• Finnish: kirottu (fi), pahuksen (fi)
• French: fichu (fr)
• German: verdammt (de), verflucht (de), vermaledeit (de)
• Romanian: blestemat (ro) m or n, afurisit (ro) m or n
• Russian: проклятый (ru) (prokljatyj), окаянный (ru) (okajannyj)
• Swedish: fördömd (sv), nedrans (sv), jädrans (sv), sabla (sv)

heraldry, of a tree whose branches bear no leaves

• Finnish: lehdetön (fi)
• French: effeuillé (fr), sec (fr), mort (fr)
• Romanian: despuiat de frunze m or n, sterp (ro) m or n, mort (ro) m or n
• Swedish: kal (sv), bar (sv), naken (sv), bladlös (sv), avlövad

Adverb

blasted (comparative more blasted, superlative most blasted)

1. (colloquial) Damned; extremely.

   That dog is so blasted stubborn.

Anagrams

• baldest, stabled