| 释义 |
▪ I. blast, n.1|blɑːst, -æ-|
Forms: 1–3 blǽst, 3– blast, 4 blest, 6 (Douglas) blist, 4–6 blaste.
[Com. Teut.: OE. blǽst str. masc. = OHG. blâst, ON. blǫ́str:—OTeut. *blæ̂s-tu-z str. m.; f. OTeut. *blæ̂san, (Goth. -blêsan, ON. blása, WGer. blâsan) to blow: see blaze v.2 Cf. L. flā-tu-s. (The original long vowel was shortened by position in ME.)]
1. A blowing or strong gust of wind.
a1000Cædmon's Ex. 290 (Gr.) Sæ grundas suþ wind fornam bæþweᵹes blæst. a1300in Wright Pop. Treat. Sc. 136 A dunt other a blast of grete miȝte. 1340Ayenb. 203 Be zuych blest and be zuych wynd. c1374Chaucer Troylus ii. 1338 Reed that boweth dowen with every blaste. c1440Promp. Parv. 38 Blaste of wynde, flatus. 1573G. Harvey Lett.-bk. (1884) 34 Two March blasts. 1603Knolles Hist. Turks (1621) 1336 Those that fortune advanceth by the favour of her blastes. 1697Dryden Virg. Georg. i. 325 Frosts and Snows, and Bitter Blasts. 1840R. Dana Bef. Mast xxxiv. 132 Broken by the blast of a hurricane. 1847Longfellow Ev. ii. iii. 184 Blown by the blast of fate like a dead leaf over the desert.
2. a. A puff or blowing of air through the mouth or nostrils; a breath. Obs. or arch.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 201 His licham of erðe he nam, And blew ðor-in a liues blast. c1325Coer de L. 1779 Unnethe he might draw his blast. 1387Trevisa Higden (1865) I. 223 A lanterne brennynge alway, þat no man couthe quenche wiþ blast noþer wiþ water. 1594T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 567 As when we breathe, we make a blast. 1611Bible Ex. xv. 8 With the blast of thy nostrils the waters were gathered together. 1642T. Taylor God's Judgem. i. ii. xxvi. 276 Breathing his last blast. 1741Middleton Cicero (1742) III. 304 The empty blast of popular favor.
†b. Angry breath, rage. Obs.
1535Coverdale Jud. viii. 2 Whan he had sayde this, their blast was swaged from him.
3. a. The sending of a continuous puff of breath through a wind-instrument, so as to make it sound; the blowing (of a trumpet, or the like); hence, the sound so produced; any similar sound. Also fig.
c1205Lay. 19926 Þa wes bemene blæst. a1300Cursor M. 18075 Þar come a steuen als thoner blast. a1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 4990 When þai here þe grete bemes blast. c1400Destr. Troy xi. 4614 Iche buerne to be bun at the blast of a trumpe. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. i. xiv, Of a great horne I harde a royal blast. 1513Douglas æneis ii. vii. [vi.] 31 Wpsprang the cry of men and trumpis blist [clangorque tubarum]. 1611Bible Josh. vi. 5 When they make a long blast with the rammes-horne. 1667Milton P.L. xi. 76 Th' Angelic blast Filld all the Regions. 1782H. More Daniel vii. 114 Were thy voice Loud as the trumpet's blast. 1851D. G. Mitchell Fresh. Glean. Wks. (1864) 304 The postilion had given two blasts on his bugle.
†b. fig. Boasting: cf. the phrase to blow one's own trumpet. Obs.
1494Fabyan v. cxl. 127 To kele somwhat theyr hyghe corage, or to oppresse in partye theyr brutisshe blastis.
†c. at one blast (L. uno flatu): at once, at the same time. for a blast: for once.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 2487 Hure hornes þai gunne þo to blowe? ful many at one blaste. 1579Tomson Calvin's Serm. Tim. 94/2 Let vs glorifie him..and that not onely for a blast, but let vs continually preach and set forth the praises of God. 1638T. Whitaker Blood of Grape 57 Both indeed at the first view or blast will seeme to shake both my foundation and edifice also. 1790Beatson Nav. & Mil. Mem. I. 193 Plunging a number of gallant men at one blast into eternity.
†d. A company (of huntsmen). Obs.
1486Bk. St. Albans F vij a, A Blast of hunters.
4. a. A strong current of air produced artificially.
a1618Raleigh Rem. (1644) 137 The Organ hath many Pipes, all which are filled with the same blast of wind. 1667Milton P.L. i. 708 As in an Organ from one blast of wind To many a row of Pipes the sound-board breaths. 1827Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. 97 By which the blast was to be thrown in.
b. spec. The strong current of air used in iron-smelting, etc.
1697Phil. Trans. XIX. 482 To give very strong and lasting Blasts for Iron Forges. 1725Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Steel, As soon as the Coal is thoroughly kindled..give the Blast. 1875Ure Dict. Arts. II. 945 The blast is conducted through sheet-iron or cast-iron pipes..into the tuyères.
c. in blast, at or in full blast (also transf.): at work, in full operation; also full blast: at full pitch; esp. very loudly. out of blast: not at work, stopped.
1780in Virginia State Papers (1875) I. 370 If Mr. Ross can get in Blast time enough..he shall be paid for Shot Twenty five pounds pr: ton. 1796Morse Amer. Geog. I. 652 At present there are four or five furnaces in the state that are in blast. 1832H. Martineau Hill & Vall. vii. 114 The day when yonder furnaces are out of blast will be the day of your ruin. 1839Marryat Diary II. 229 In full blast—something in the extreme. ‘When she came to meeting, with her yellow hat and feathers, was'n't she in full blast?’ 1853A. Bunn Old & New England I. v. 86 Oyster-saloons..to use an American phrase ‘in full blast’ (Anglicè, having a great run of business). 1854J. Abbot Napoleon (1855) I. xxvi. 412 All the foundries of France were in full blast. 1858Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 143 The organ..was in full blast in the church. 1874Spurgeon Treas. Dav. lxxxviii. i. IV. 130 They burned perpetually like a furnace at full blast. 1936H. Miller Black Spring (1938) 84 A penny arcade is going full blast. 1938E. Bowen Death of Heart ii. ii. 191 Even when the wireless was not on full blast, Daphne often shouted as though it were. 1957I. Cross God Boy (1958) xxi. 183 If it had come through a radio going full blast [etc.].
d. fig. A severe or violent reprimand, outburst, or the like. colloq. (orig. U.S.).
1874‘Mark Twain’ Let. 4 Sept. (1917) I. 226, I gave the P.O. Department a blast in the papers. 1930E. Raymond Jesting Army ii. iv. 203 If he but heard them, he charged up to revile them... Fred Roberts came under his blast. 1935Time 11 Mar. 23/3 Despite blast and counterblast between President Roosevelt and Soviet Foreign Minister Litvinoff. 1936Variety 1 July 35/5 Would You Like a Nice 15-Minute Blast at President Roosevelt? 1954New Yorker 31 July 48/2 A typical blast comes from the West Renfrewshire group, which concludes its resolution by saying tartly that the ‘blind folly’ of the official Party shows that the leadership is completely divorced from the feelings of the majority of the Labour movement.
†5. The sudden stroke of lightning, a thunder-bolt. Obs.
1650Mrs. Hutchinson Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846) 351 He..died by a blast of lightning. 1751Franklin Lett. Wks. 1840 V. 224 The end entered by the electric blast points north.
6. A sudden infection destructive to vegetable or animal life (formerly attributed to the blowing or breath of some malignant power, foul air, etc.).
a. Blight; also an insect which causes blight.
b. spec. A disease of the sugar cane. arch. or Obs.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 29 b, To preserve it from blast and mildew. 1702C. Mather Magn. Chr. v. iv. (1852) 316 Our wheat and our pease, fell under an unaccountable blast. 1750G. Hughes Barbados 245 It [the sugar-cane] is liable to one disorder hitherto incurable, the Yellow Blast. 1756P. Browne Jamaica 435 The Blast. This insect..is generally pernicious to all the plants on which it breeds. 1815Encycl. Brit. (ed. 5) III. 658/2 Blast is also used in agriculture and gardening, for what is otherwise called a blight.
c. transf. and fig. Any blasting, withering, or pernicious influence; a curse.
1547Boorde Brev. Health C 21 b, A Blast in the Eye. 1559T. Bryce in Farr S.P. (1845) I. 176 When shall thy spouse and turtle-doue Be free from bitter blaste? 1659Hammond On Ps. xxxiv. 14 Must needs be the forfeiting of God's protection, and bring his blasts and curses. 1727De Foe Eng. Tradesm. (1745) I. xiii. 101 Turns the blessing into a blast. 1752Johnson Rambl. No. 204 ⁋2 Resistless as the blasts of pestilence.
d. A dialectal name of erysipelas.
e. A flatulent disease in sheep.
1845W. Buchan Domest. Med. xxv. 202 The country people..call this disease [erysipelas] a blast, and imagine it proceeds from foul air, or ill wind.
†7. A blasted bud or blossom; blasted state.
1579Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 190 Thou shalt hang like a blast among the faire blossomes. Ibid. 196 As in all gardeins, some flowers, some weedes, and as in al trees some blossoms, some blasts. 1795Southey Occas. Pieces i, Thy youth in ignorance and labour past, And thine old age all barrenness and blast.
8. a. A ‘blowing up’ by gunpowder or other explosive; an explosion.
1635J. Babington Pyrotechn. lvi. 63 Holding your head under the horizontal line of your Piece, for feare the blast annoy you. 1748Anson Voy. i. vii. 72 The blast was occasioned by a spark of fire from the forge. 1853Kane Grinnell Exp. xxxiii. (1856) 285 A noise like a quarry blast, explosive and momentary.
b. The quantity of gunpowder or other explosive used in a blasting operation.
1885Daily News 12 Oct 5/2 When Hallett's Reef in Hell Gate was destroyed..the blast was the largest ever used.
c. A destructive wave of highly compressed air spreading outwards from an explosion. Also attrib. and Comb., as blast wall (see quot. 1852), blast wave; blast-proof adj.
1852Harper's Mag. Apr. 644/2 A structure of black timber..set up in the shape of an acute angle. This is a ‘blast-wall’, intended to offer some resistance to a rush of air in case of an explosion [at the powder-mill]. 1923[see back-blast s.v. back- A. 11]. 1939Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLIII. 225 Blast is a non-translational shock wave that is transmitted through the air to considerable distances from an exploding bomb... In the blast wave a phase of positive pressure is followed by a phase of negative pressure. 1940Graves & Hodge Long Week-end xxiv. 420 The Government was planning..to provide blast-proof steel shelters for every house in the country. 1941Flight 10 Apr. 272/2 Even some of the machines..are protected against bombing by blast walls.
d. A party, esp. one that is very noisy or wild. Also, a good time, an enjoyable or exciting experience (chiefly U.S.). slang.
1953D. Harris in Wentworth & Flexner's Dict. Amer. Slang (1975) 42/1 Maybe it's a little early in the day for their first blast. 1959Times 9 Mar. 13/4 A blast, a great party. 1966N.Y. Times 9 Sept. d9 I've been a lucky girl... In ‘Dolittle’ I'm having a blast. 1967W. Murray Sweet Ride vi. 89 Man, they're throwing a monster blast over on the East Latego later... Everybody's going. 1970Harper's Mag. July 37 Meyer himself had a blast. An entirely unpretentious man,..he had dreaded this confrontation with sophisticated, distinguished Yale. 1972J. S. Gunn in G. W. Turner Good Austral. Eng. iii. 56, I found that the effect of a drug can be a bang, blast, boot. 1979Navajo Times (Window Rock, Arizona) 24 May 15/5 Johnson said playing in the pros and in Oakland has been a blast and baseball had been good to him.
9. Sc. A smoke (of tobacco). Cf. King James's Counterblast to Tobacco (1604).
Mod. South Sc. He takes his blast after dinner.
10. Comb. and attrib., as (in sense 1) blast-borne, blast-puff; (in sense 3) blast-horn; (in sense 4) blast-bloomery, blast-cylinder, blast-engine, blast-machine, blast-meter; also † blast-bob, the stroke of a blast of wind; blast bomb, a bomb whose effect depends mainly on its blast, esp. a home-made or hand-held one; blast-fan, a fan for producing a blast of air; blast-hearth, a hearth for reducing lead-ore; blast-hole, the hole by which water enters a pump, the wind-bore; blast-lamp, (a) see quot. a 1884; (b) a lamp in which the flame is driven on to a surface by a current of air; a blow-lamp; blast-pipe, in a locomotive, a pipe conveying the steam from the cylinders into the funnel and so increasing the draught; blast-pot (see quot.).
1860W. Fordyce Hist. Coal. 110 Besides the orifice or chimney at the top, there were two openings, one large in front, the other of smaller dimensions behind, for the insertion of the bellows pipe. Such was the *Blast Bloomery.
1582Stanyhurst æneis iv. (Arb.) 110 Thee boughs frap whurring, when stem with *blastbob is hacked.
1976Economist 21 Feb. 17/2 One man was killed when a *blast bomb he was assembling on Saturday night went off too early. 1981N.Y. Times 13 July a2 The police reported a blast bomb was thrown at an army patrol.
1830Tennyson Poems 124 *Blastborne hail.
1875Ure Dict. Arts II. 949 There are 3 *blast-engines..They have 96-inch blast- and 40-inch steam-cylinders.
1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 339/2 To..blow either hot or cold air through it by means of a *blast-fan.
1844Camp of Refuge I. 27 Sounding all the *blast-horns on the house-top.
a1884Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Blast Lamp, one with an artificially produced draft of air to aid combustion. 1902M. Barnes-Grundy Thames Camp 57 A benzoline blast lamp which would fetch off any varnish in the world.
c1865J. Wylde in Circ. Sc. I. 315/1 The combustion..is rapidly effected by means of the *blast-pipe of the cylinder.
1887Harper's Mag. Apr. 670/2 Before the war only seven small furnaces—‘*blast-pots’ they were called—having a total capacity of 20,000 tons, were in operation in all Tennessee.
Add: blast-freezing, freezing, esp. of foodstuffs, by means of a rapid current of chilled air; hence (as a back-formation) blast-freeze v. trans.; blast freezer, a machine for blast-freezing.
[1943Tressler & Evers Freezing Preservation of Foods iii. 83 Air blast freezing at about -10°F was also used by a number of juice freezing companies.] 1948W. A. Gortner et al. Princ. Food Freezing xvi. 244 *Blast freezing, or freezing by the cold-air blast system, is the most rapid method of freezing in use in locker plants. A large blast freezer requires an extra room. 1965New Scientist 18 Feb. 431/1 Trays of stabilised egg are ‘blast-frozen’ to -30°C. 1979Fortune 29 Jan. 85 Fresh-caught whole salmon are being..transformed into..fillets which are immediately vacuum-packaged and blast-frozen. 1983Jrnl. Soc. Archivists VII. 169 Many libraries..are in the flood area... External preparation for flood requires rapid access to blast freezing. 1986Scotsman 31 July 4 (Advt.), Smoked Salmon from fish which have not endured the confines of the rearing cage or the dessication [sic] of the blast freezer is rare indeed.
Add:[10.] blast-hole, (b) Mining, a hole into which a charge of explosive is inserted.
1747W. Hooson Miners Dict. s.v. Noger, Their bigness is about an inch at least, for either Blast-holes, or Clift-holes. 1944Mining Congress Jrnl. June 77/3 The diamond drill is particularly adapted for *blast holes. Ibid. 71/1 Blast hole drilling with diamond bits has been introduced recently..in the United States and Canada.
▪ II. blast, n.2|blæst|
[f. Gr. βλαστ-ός: see -blast.]
A primitive undifferentiated blood-cell, esp. one found in acute leukæmia. In full blast cell.
1947H. A. Christian Osler's Princ. & Practice Med. (ed. 16) 965 Monocytic Leucemia... The cell is a monocyte or monocyte blast. 1952Science CXV. 357/2 The inhibitor activity of the primitive blast cells from acute leukemia was close to zero. 1961Lancet 9 Sept. 603/1 Leukæmic cells, particularly the blast cells, contain no inhibitor whatever.
▪ III. blast, v.|blɑːst, -æ-|
Also 3, 7 blaste.
[f. the n.]
I.
†1.
a. intr. To blow, to puff violently. Obs.
c1300K. Alis. 5438 Dragouns..grisely whistleden and blasten. 1483Caxton Gold. Leg. 397/3 Ther came a grete multytude of fendes blastyng and roryng. 1530Palsgr. 457/1 To blaste with ones mouthe or with belowes. 1768Ross Helenore 23 (Jam.) Twa shepherds out of breath, Rais'd-like and blasting.
†b. trans. To blow (out, forth, abroad); to breathe (out), utter loudly, proclaim. Obs.
1536Latimer Serm. bef. Convoc. i. 35 Counterfeit doctrine, which hath been blasted and blown out by some. 1548Hall Chron. Hen. VI. an. 14 (R.) They blasted emongest themselfes, that the Calisians would leaue the town desolate. 1631Weever Anc. Fun. Mon. 712 The winde..whereby this fire was..blasted abroad.
c. nonce-wd. To emit blasts.
1842Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 14/1 The engine which had been clanking and blasting in our ears incessantly for so many days.
†2.
a. intr. To blow (on a trumpet or other wind instrument).
b. trans. To blow (a trumpet, etc.).
c. with the hearers as object.: To din or denounce by trumpeting. Obs.
1384Chaucer H. Fame 1866 Toke his blake trumpe faste And gan to puffen and to blaste. 1530Palsgr. 457/1 He blasted his horne so hygh that all the wodde dyd shake. 1606Shakes. Ant. & Cl. iv. viii. 36 Trumpetters With brazen dinne blast you the Citties eare. 1858Polson Law & L. 197 ‘Blasting you at the horn,’ ‘poinding your estate.’
3. intr. To boast, ‘blow one's own trumpet.’ Sc.
1814Saxon & Gael I. 100 (Jam.), I am no gien to blast.
†4.
a. trans. To blow (up), inflate.
b. intr. (for refl.) To swell up. Obs. exc. dial.
1578Lyte Dodoens i. xcv. 137 The same herbe..slaketh the [bowels] whan they are blasted vp and swollen. Ibid. ii. xxv. 177 A yong Catt whereunto I haue giuen of these floures to eate..blasted immediatly, and shortly after died. 1874Hardy Madding Crowd I. xxi. 228 [A rustic says] ‘They [the sheep] be getting blasted.’.. ‘Joseph,’ he said, ‘the sheep have blasted themselves.’
5. a. trans. To blow up (rocks, etc.) by explosion.
1758Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornwall xv. §1. 161 The miner is generally obliged to blast the rock. 1858Froude Hist. Eng. III. xv. 314 His shallow schemes were blasted to atoms. 1859Hawthorne Fr. & It. Jrnls. II. 279 The ledge of rock had been blasted and hewn away.
b. intr. Of a rocket or spacecraft: to take off, be launched into space; usu. const. off. Also used of any powered phase of flight. Also of an astronaut.
1951R. Bradbury Silver Locusts 190 You could still smell the hard, scorched smell where the last rocket blasted off when it went back to Earth. 1953H. Haber Man in Space 262 The moment the big ship blasts off there is no allowance for the slightest failure. 1956R. Heinlein Double Star (1958) ii. 38, I was spacesick..as soon as the rocket ship quit blasting and went into free fall. 1969Times 17 May 8/1 It only remains for three veteran space travellers..to blast off on Sunday.
c. To create from or out of rock, etc., by means of explosion.
1951R. Campbell Light on Dark Horse vi. 96 In many of these places swimming baths had been blasted out of the rocks. 1978B. Bainbridge Young Adolf i. 11 The train plunged into the hills surrounding the city and entered a massive tunnel blasted from yellow sandstone.
6. a. (dial.) To smoke (tobacco). Cf. blow. (The usual word in S. Scotl.) b. To smoke (marijuana). Also intr. Cf. blasted ppl. a. 4. slang (chiefly U.S.).
1959J. E. Schmidt Narcotics Lingo & Lore 17 Blast Mary Jane to kingdom come, to smoke hemp or Mari Huana cigarettes ‘by the pack’, i.e., furiously. 1960R. G. Reisner Jazz Titans 151 Blast, to get high. 1961Rigney & Smith Real Bohemia p.xiii, Blast crap, to, to smoke marijuana. 1970C. Major Dict. Afro-Amer. Slang 27 Blast,..smoke marijuana.
II. To blow on perniciously.
7. trans. To blow or breathe on balefully or perniciously; to wither, shrivel, or arrest vegetation; to blight. Said of a malignant wind, lightning, flame and (formerly) of a ‘malignant’ planet.
1532Frith Mirror (1829) 277 By blasting thy fruits, or such other scourges. 1576Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 271 This lately advaunced building was blasted with flame. 1580Baret Alv. B 786 To be Blasted or striken with a planet. 1625Milton Death Fair Inf. i, O fairest flower, no sooner blown but blasted. 1634T. Johnson Parey's Chirurg. xxviii. (1678) 682 Every body that is blasted or stricken with lightning. 1697Dryden Virg. Past. ii. 84 Southern Winds to blast my flowry Spring. 1862Stanley Jew. Ch. (1877) I. ii. 38 The fertile vale of Siddim was blasted with eternal barrenness.
8. transf. and fig. (Blasting withers up the brightness, freshness, beauty, vitality, and promise of living things: hence)
a. To blight or ruin (hopes, plans, prosperity).
1639Fuller Holy War iii. iv. (1840) 121 Oftentimes heaven blasteth those hopes which bud first and fairest. 1759Robertson Hist. Scot. I. ii. 90 The death of Henry blasted all these hopes. 1834Pringle Afr. Sk. x. 338 My personal prospects in the colony were for the present entirely blasted. 1871R. Ellis Catullus lxiv. 397 When heinous sin earth's wholesome purity blasted.
b. To bring infamy upon (character, reputation); to discredit effectually, ruin, destroy.
1596Drayton Leg. iv. 21 Would you forbeare to blast Me with Defame. 1660Winstanley Engl. Worthies (1684) 174 So hath this worthy Princes fame been blasted by malicious traducers. 1713Steele Englishm. No. 5. 31 This Query..is designed to blast the Memory and Title of King William. 1769Junius Lett. xxxiv. 148, I did not attempt to blast your character. 1877Conder Bas. Faith iv. 194 To blast this evidence with suspicion of untrustworthiness.
†c. To affect injuriously or perniciously with.
1605Camden Rem. (1637) 166 Some of the greatest Romans were a little blasted with this foolerie. 1750Johnson Rambl. No. 157 ⁋6, I was blasted with sudden imbecility.
d. To strike (the eyes or vision) with dimness or horror. arch.
a1771Gray Poems (1775) 24 He saw; but blasted with excess of light, Clos'd his eyes in endless night. 1803Miss Porter Thaddeus ix. (1831) 83 Wherever he turned his eyes they were blasted with some object which made them recoil. 1817Coleridge Sibyl. Leaves (1862) Still Edmund's image rose to blast her view.
†9. intr. To wither or fall under a blight. Obs.
1580Lyly Euphues (Arb.) 236 The Easterly winde maketh the blossomes to blast. a1618Raleigh in Farr S.P. (1845) I. 235 Tell Beauty how she blasteth. c1630Risdon Surv. Devon §44 (1810) 51 This bud soon blasted in the blossom. 1748J. Eliot Field-Husb. New England (1760) i. 14, I have been told that Summer Wheat sowed with Barley is not apt to blast. 1838E. Flagg Far West II. 217 All of the smaller grains..being liable to blast before the harvesting.
10. a. trans. To strike or visit with the wrath and curse of heaven; to curse. Often in imprecations in the imperative or optative form (for God blast{ddd}); also as an exclamation of annoyance.
a1634Chapman Revenge for Hon. v, And thus I kiss'd my last breath. Blast you all. 1640–4in Rushworth Hist. Coll. iii. (1692) I. 130 Blasted may that tongue be, that shall..derogate from the glory of those Halcyon days. 1659Hammond On Ps. iv. 3 His enemies..blasted him as a man of blood. 1706Addison Rosamond i. i, My wrath like that of heav'n shall..blast her in her Paradise. 1752Fielding Amelia IV. x. v, But, blast my reputation, if I had received such a letter, if I would not have searched the world to have found the writer. 1762Goldsmith Cit. W. cv, ‘Blast me!’ cries Tibbs, ‘if that be all, there is no need of paying for that.’ 1793T. Hastings Regal Rambler 74 Leaving all the ladies below to blast or bless their eyes, no matter which. 1824Scott St. Ronan's viii, ‘As I think, he laid hands on your body...’ ‘Hands,..no, blast him—not so bad as that neither.’ 1849Macaulay Hist. Eng. I. iii, Calling on their Maker to curse them..blast them, and damn them. 1916E. F. Benson David Blaize ix. 158 ‘I say, Blazes, there's extra confirmation class this evening.’..‘Oh, blast!’ said David. 1936Auden & Isherwood Ascent of F6 i. iii, Give it here, blast your eyes! 1955N. Marsh Scales of Justice ix. 209 ‘Damnation, blast and bloody hell!’ Alleyn said.
b. absol. To curse, to use profane language.
1762Gentl. Mag. 130 On they go..swearing, blasting, damning. |