blow up

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Contents

[edit] English

[edit] 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 explode something or somebody or destroy something or injure or kill somebody by 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) 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Anagrams

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