blow up

Formsblows up, blowing up, blew up, blown up

1. 1
   explodephrasal verbfigurativelyintransitive

   To explode, or to be destroyed when something explodes.

   The old gas tank could blow up if it gets too hot.

   A truck full of fuel blew up on the highway last night.

   Similarexplode, burst, detonate

2. 2
   explodephrasal verbfigurativelytransitive

   To make something explode, or to destroy, hurt, or kill with an explosion.

   Workers will blow up the old factory chimney on Sunday morning.

   The bad guy in the movie wants to blow up the city's power plant.

   Similarbomb, explode

   Note
3. 3
   fill with airphrasal verbtransitive

   To fill something with air, by blowing into it or with a pump.

   Can you help me blow up the balloons for the party?

   He used a pump to blow up his bike tires.

   Similarinflate

   Oppositedeflate

   Note
4. 4
   enlarge (photo)phrasal verbtransitive

   To make something bigger, like a photo, or to zoom in on it.

   Can you blow up this photo so I can read the sign?

   She blew up the map on her phone to find our street.

   Similarenlarge, magnify

   Oppositereduce, shrink

5. 5
   get angryphrasal verbslangintransitive

   To suddenly become very angry and lose control of your feelings.

   My brother blew up at me for using his phone.

   Try to stay calm and don't blow up when you hear the news.

   Similarexplode, erupt, snap

   Note
6. 6
   become famousphrasal verbslangintransitive

   To quickly become popular with a lot of people, almost overnight.

   Her funny videos blew up after one got millions of views.

   I think this song is going to blow up this summer.

   Note
7. 7
   flood with messagesphrasal verbslangtransitive

   To send so many calls or messages to someone's phone that it stops working for a while or annoys them.

   Please stop blowing up my phone. I'll call you back after class.

   My friends blow up my phone every time our team wins.

   Similaroverload

   Note
8. 8
   flood with messagesphrasal verbslangintransitive

   Of a phone, to get so many calls or messages that it is hard to use or very annoying.

   My phone started blowing up as soon as the test scores came out.

   Turn off the group chat, or your phone will blow up all night.

   Note
9. 9
   explosionnoun · blow-upcolloquialcountable

   A sudden explosion, either a real one or a sudden burst of anger.

   After the big blow-up at dinner, nobody spoke for an hour.

   The blow-up at the fireworks factory broke windows across town.

   Similaroutburst, explosion, blast

   Note
10. 10
    bigger copynoun · blow-upcolloquialcountable

    A bigger copy of something, such as a photo.

    We put a blow-up of the class photo on the wall.

    The teacher made blow-ups of the map so everyone could see it.

    Similarenlargement

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