blast

plural blasts

1. countableuncountableA violent gust of wind (in windy weather) or apparent wind (around a moving vehicle).

   Their warm, thick under covering of fine wool protects them from the coldest blasts.

   1915 April 28, Enos A. Mills, “Wild Mountain Sheep”, in The Rocky Mountain Wonderland, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 37

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   And see where surly Winter passes off, / Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts; / His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill.

   a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Spring”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC

2. countableuncountableA forcible stream of gas or liquid from an orifice, for example from a bellows, the tuyeres of a blast furnace, a person's mouth, etc.
3. countableuncountableA hit of a recreational drug from a pipe.
4. countableuncountableThe continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace.

   Many tons of iron were melted at a blast.

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   Blast was produced by bellows worked by four 'blowers', three of whom worked at a time while the fourth stood ready to replace one of the others.

   1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 146

5. countableuncountableThe exhaust steam from an engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast.
6. countableuncountableAn explosion, especially for the purpose of destroying a mass of rock, etc.

   arc blast

   3 more examples

   She caught the full impact of the blast.

   Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities.

   2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion

   Signalman Bridges was killed by the blast, as was fireman Nightall. Amazingly, driver Gimbert came round some 200 yards away, on the grass outside the Station Hotel where he had been flung.

   2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43

7. countableuncountableball gamesA direct and fast swing of a bat; a home run.
8. countableuncountableA verbal attack or punishment; a severe criticism or reprimand.

   My manager gave me a blast yesterday for coming in late.

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   P. S.—I gave the P. O. Department a blast in the papers about sending misdirected letters of mine back to the writers for reshipment, and got a blast in return, through a New York daily, from the New York postmaster.

   1917 [1874], Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], edited by Albert Bigelow Paine, Mark Twain's letters, volume 1, page 226

9. countableuncountableAn explosive charge for blasting.

   1852-1854, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts Large blasts are often used.

10. countableA loud, sudden sound.

    the blast of triumph o'er thy grave

    c. 1832, William Cullen Bryant, The Battle-Field

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    One blast upon his bugle horn / Were worth a thousand men.

    1810, Walter Scott, “(please specify the canto number or page)”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, →OCLC, (please specify the stanza number)

    Then the captain sung out: ¶ "Stand away!" and the cannon let off such a blast right before me that it made me deef with the noise and pretty near blind with the smoke, and I judged I was gone.

    1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC, page 60

11. uncountablebroadcastingUnwanted noise from a microphone.

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    […] the microphone has been unostentatiously working out its own destiny here and abroad, mainly in America. Evolution seems to be most promising (in the elimination of "microphone blast" and background noises — common faults of the earlier types) in the direction of the electrostatic, or condenser, microphone, […]

    1969, The Realist: A Journal of Scientific Humanism, page 67

12. countableuncountableA sudden pernicious effect, as if by a noxious wind, especially on animals and plants; a blight.

    Vertue preferd from fell deſtuctions blaſt,

    c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii]

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    By the blast of God they perish, and by the breath of his nostrils are they consumed.

    1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 4:9

13. countablefigurativelyinformaluncountableA good time; an enjoyable moment.

    We had a blast at the party last night.

14. countableuncountablebusinessA promotional message sent to an entire mailing list.

    an e-mail blast; a fax blast

15. countableuncountableA flatulent disease of sheep.
16. countableslanguncountablebodybuildingA period of full dosage of PEDs as opposed to a period of reduced intake.

    blast and cruise

present singular third person blasts · participle present blasting · participle past blasted · past blasted

1. transitiveTo make an impression on, by making a loud blast or din.

   Trumpeters, / With brazen din blast you the city's ear.

   c. 1606–1607 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Anthonie and Cleopatra”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene viii]

2. intransitiveTo make a loud noise.
3. informaltransitiveTo play (music) very loudly out of a speaker.

   There was no flutter of claws requiring me to blast a tape.

   2022, Quiara Alegría Hudes, My Broken Language, Random House Publishing Group

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   Some kid is in his car blasting rap. You know, bass in the trunk and you can hear it 4 blocks away? I signal over to him and say "Hey, turn it up, I can't hear it." He turns around and says, "Shut Up Grandpa."

   2008 April 24, neilc...@yahoo.com, “ARRMO FEST”, in alt.rock-n-roll.metal.oldschool (Usenet)

4. transitiveTo shatter, as if by an explosion.

   Although Maroczy favored solid, positional chess, there were times when he changed his style and blasted his opponents' defenses to bits.

   1951 July, Hans Kmoch, “Geza Maroczy 1870-1951”, in Chess Review

5. transitiveTo open up a hole in, usually by means of a sudden and imprecise method (such as an explosion).

   Blast right through it.

6. transitiveTo curse; to damn.

   Blast it! Foiled again.

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   We are told that he [the serpent] was more subtle than any beast of the field; did he really show his sagacity by blasting man's prospects without improving his own?

   1918, James George Frazer, Folk-Lore In The Old Testament, volume 1, page 49

7. transitiveliteratureTo shoot, especially with an energy weapon (as opposed to one which fires projectiles).

   Chewbacca blasted the Stormtroopers with his laser rifle.

8. ball gamesTo shoot; kick the ball in hope of scoring a goal.

   A Ricketts and Stuart Holden one-two around the box then created a decent chance for an almost instant equaliser - but Welsh full-back Ricketts blasted over when a calmer finish could have been rewarded.

   2010 December 29, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC

9. ambitransitiveslangAfrican-American VernacularTo shoot; to attack or shoot (someone or a place).

   They showed up blasting.

   2 more examples

   That's when we decided to blast him.

   And some kid comes blastin' around the corner but a cop puts him right away. He lays on the street holding his leg screaming something in Spanish, still breathing when I walked away.

   1973, Bruce Springsteen, “Lost in the Flood”, in Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J., performed by Bruce Springsteen

10. transitiveTo criticize or reprimand severely; to verbally discipline or punish.

    My manager suddenly blasted me yesterday for being a little late to work for five days in a row, because I was never getting myself up on time.

    2 more examples

    John Cassavetes and New Yorker film critic Pauline Kael have never seen eye to eye on his films. According to the director, "She's blasted every one of my films except A Woman Under the Influence, which she couldn't quite bring herself to pan because it was a story about a woman. So she blasted Gena's acting instead."

    1976, Karen Stabiner, “Cassavetes: Hollywood's Loner”, in Mother Jones, volume 1, number 3, page 64

    Mark Pritchard, a Tory member of Parliament, blasted the show for treating a somber subject as “a matter of fun.”

    2014 March 27, Robin Marantz Henig, “Fictional Plotlines and Real Assisted Suicide”, in The Atlantic

    Synonyms: admonish, animadvert, bash, bawl out, tilt, clobber, cannonade, slash

11. transitiveTo bring destruction or ruin on; to destroy.

    Both Leo and myself rushed to her - she was stone dead - blasted into death by some mysterious electric agency or overwhelming will-force whereof the dread She had command.

    1886 October – 1887 January, H[enry] Rider Haggard, She: A History of Adventure, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., published 1887, →OCLC

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    Oh Portius, is there not some choſen Curſe, Some hidden Thunder in the Stores of Heav’n, Red with uncommon Wrath, to blaſt the Man Who owes his Greatneſs to his Country’s Ruin?

    1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, Act I, scene i, page 2

12. transitiveTo blight or wither.

    A cold wind blasted the rose plants.

13. intransitiveobsoleteTo be blighted or withered.

    The bud blasted in the blossom.

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    Tell age it daily wasteth; tell honour how it alters; Tell beauty how she blasteth; tell fauour how it falters: And as they shall reply, giue euery one the lye.

    c. 1592, Walter Raleigh, “The Lie”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), published 1608

14. intransitiveobsoleteTo blow (as, on a trumpet).
15. slangbodybuildingTo have a period of full dosage of PEDs as opposed to reducing them during a cruise period.

    blast and cruise

16. slangtransitiveTo cover in tattoos.

    I don't have the balls to get my face blasted like a rapper.

1. UKinformalmildly blasphemousUsed to show anger or disappointment: damn

   Now, where's my Labour membership card, so I can consider whether to tear it up? Blast, it's plastic...

   2025 February 19, Christian Wolmar, “Reeves talks of 'growth' but pays lip service to the railway”, in RAIL, number 1029, page 35

plural blasts

1. biologyAn immature or undifferentiated cell (e.g., lymphoblast, myeloblast).

present singular third person blasts · participle present blasting · participle past blasted · past blasted · alternative BLAST

1. informaltransitivebiologyTo run a nucleotide sequence (for nucleic acids) or an amino acid sequence (for proteins) through a BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool).

   Blasting nucleotide sequences is not always that easy, because there is more ambiguity to the nucleotide sequence, and good hits have to have a 70% homology over the whole sequence to be reliable, compared to 25% with proteins.

   2004, Andreas Bommarius, Bettina Riebel-Bommarius, Biocatalysis: Fundamentals and Applications, page 425

1. biologyAn algorithm which compares similarities between sequences of nucleotides in nucleic acids or of amino acids in proteins.

present singular third person BLASTs · participle present BLASTing · participle past BLASTed · past BLASTed

1. informaltransitivebiologyAlternative letter-case form of blast (“to run a sequence through BLAST”).

   This program is also capable of BLASTing sequencing results and works with most automated sequencing formats, alleviating the need for conversion of PC-based files.

   2006, Guy Caldwell, Shelli Williams, Kim Caldwell, Integrated Genomics: A Discovery-Based Laboratory Course, page 85