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Seeing my effort had gone to waste and realising that I had to do all my laundry again, I blew up. Yes, I suddenly became angry.

Nick's parents will definitely blow up at him when they see the broken vase.

 

In many contexts "blow" is connected to force, explosion or anger but not in the phrasal verb "to blow somebody away", when used in America and meaning to surprise or please someone very much.

Don't say anything before you have watched the last scene. I guarantee that it will blow you away.

  

But don't be confused if someone says to you that San Francisco 49ers blew Tampa Bay Buccaneers away in the last match. In this context, it means to defeat someone or something completely, usually used in a sports competition.

The phrase can also be used when someone is killed, as in:

The mugger blew his victim away.

Before we look further, I would like to mention the headline which is the motive behind today's column, "Merrill blows $5.5 bn in risky bets". In this headline "blow" functions as a verb meaning "to spend a large amount of money on things that are not really necessary. So the headline tells us that Merrill unnecessarily spent $5.5 billion on risky businesses.

One thing about people's minds is that they are unfathomable. Sometimes you are interested in one particular thing, but later on that same thing often doesn't interest you anymore. In English we describe behaviour like this as "to blow hot and cold".

I told my husband my plan for our Christmas holiday was to drive up north and camp out for a few nights during the Christmas break, but he has been blowing hot and cold ever since.

 

 

Complete the sentences with the expressions explained:

1. The bouquet of red roses from David sent to Jane's office did …  her … .

2. Mark has always been very patient but that false accusation made him … .

3. Even with some injuries, Phil managed to … his rival in the end.

4. John inherited a large sum of money from his uncle last year but he … it in gambling.

5. I cannot give you any definite answer since the boss seems to … about your proposal. It is really difficult to say what he thinks about it.

Answers: 1. blow … away, 2. blow up, 3. blow away, 4. blew, 5. blow hot and cold

By Parnsap Yomanage