such combinations as Blast me! Blast you! Blast your eyes! etc.—See Oaths.
1654. Chapman, Revenge for Honour, V., ii. And thus I kiss'd my last breath. Blast you all! Ta. Damn'd desperate villain!
1752. Fielding, Amelia, bk. X., ch. v. 'I don't know what you mean by ominous,' cries the colonel; 'but, blast my reputation, if I had received such a letter, if I would not have searched the world to have found the writer.'
1759. Goldsmith, Cit. of the World, lett., 105. 'Blast me!' cries Tibbs, 'if that be all, there is no need of paying for that.'
1825. Scott, St. Ronan's Well, ch. viii. 'Hands, Captain MacTurk!' exclaimed Sir Bingo, in some confusion; 'no, blast him—not so bad as that neither.'
Blasted, ppl. adj. (low).—Execrable;
confounded; often substituted
for 'damned,' 'bloody,'
it being thought a milder form.
Grose has blasted fellow
for an abandoned rogue, and
blasted brimstone for a prostitute.
[From blast, q.v.]—See
Oaths.
1682. Dryden, Medal, 260. What curses on thy blasted Name will fall.
1750. Chesterfield, Letters, 8 Jan. (1870), 169. Colonel Chartres . . . who was, I believe, the most notorious blasted rascal in the world. [m.]
1874. Pusey, Lent. Sermons, 79. Balaam after the success of his blasted counsel. [m.]
1884. Good Words, Nov., p. 767, col. 1. Jim Black states that the blasted railway has done away with those journeys.
Blatantation, subs. (? nonce
word).—Noisy effusion; swagger.
[From blatant, noisy,
offensively clamorous, + ation.]
Cf., Blatancy.
1833. Graphic, Feb. 24, p. 199, col. 3. On the ground betting men are conspicuous with their books, blatantations, blackguardism, and swell clothes.
Blater, subs. (old).—A calf.
[Probably a corruption of
'bleater,' from its cry.]
1714. Memoirs of John Hall (4 ed.), p. 11 [list of cant words in]. Blater, a calf.
1827. Lytton, Pelham, ch. lxxxii. Don't be glim-flashy; why you'd cry beef on a blater.
Blather, subs. (familiar).—Noisy
talk; voluble nonsense. Cf.,
Blether.
1864. E. Yates, Broken to Harness, ch. xxix., p. 309 (1873). 'There's a letter there from Sir Mordaunt, askin' for more time, and promisin' all sorts of things; but I'm sick of him and his blather.'
Verb.—To talk volubly; noisily; nonsensically.—See Blether.
1884. W. C. Russell, Jack's Courtship, ch. xxiv. Mrs. O'Brien was blathering about the pedigree of the O'Briens and the O'Shandrydans to Mrs. Joyce.
Blatherskite, subs. (common).—1.
Boastful disputatious swagger.
Cf., Bletherskite.
2. A swaggerer; boaster; one who talks volubly and nonsensically. Cf., Bletherskite.
1888. New York Herald, July 29. Every blatherskite republican is filled to the brim and spouting high protection, while the democrats are not prepared to meet them for want of documents.
1888. Chicago Watchman. Dr. Brookes, of St. Louis, must be a nice man to live with. He refers to Dr. R. W. Dale and Dr. Parker as 'blatant blatherskites,' and evidently regards Professor Drummond as beyond reformation.
Blayney's Bloodhounds, subs.
(military).—The Eighty-ninth
Foot. They obtained this nickname
during the Irish Rebellion
in 1798. [Blayney, from their
Colonel's name + Bloodhounds
from their skill in tracking Irish
rebels.] They also earned for
themselves the sobriquet of The
