1863. Jeaffreson, Live It Down, III., p. 249. (Cries of 'Chair, Chair,' and 'Order, order.') 'Order be blowed!' exclaimed the infuriated Mr. H.
1864. Dickens, Our Mutual Friend, bk. II., ch. v. 'Holiday be blowed!' said Fledgely, entering, 'What have you got to do with holidays?'
1877. Five Years' Penal Servitude, ch. iii., p. 244. 'No,' says she, 'we've got some more besides that, and enough, too, to take us to France. Blowed, old man, if we don't go to Paris, and there we can get £300 for them.'
1879. Punch's Almanac, p. 7. Seasonable Slang. For Spring.—You be blowed! For Summer.—I'll warm yer! For Autumn.—Not so blooming green! For Winter.—An ice little game all round.
1889. Ally Sloper's H. H., Aug. 3, p. 242, col. 2. 'Blowed if I'd have made her Mrs. Juggins, if I'd have known she wor going to make a footstool of me!'
Blowen or Blowing, subs. (old.)—This
word appears to have
passed through a series of ups
and downs in the course of its
career. Originally signifying a
woman, without special reference
to moral character, it subsequently
came to mean a showy
courtesan, or a prostitute. It
still retains the latter meaning,
but is frequently used in a more
complimentary sense than heretofore
to signify a finely built
handsome girl. In America
among the criminal classes it
is only used to designate a
mistress. Its derivation is
extremely uncertain, the two
most important suggestions
being that it comes (1) from the
reputation having been 'blown
upon'; and (2) that in Wilts
blowen signifies a blossom—hence
blowen a flower; a pet.
1688. Shadwell, Sq. of Alsatia, I., in wks.(1720) IV., 17. What ogling there will be between thee and the blowings!
1789. Geo. Parker, Life's Painter, p. 143. Blowen, a woman.
1812. J. H. Vaux, Flash Dict. Blowen, a prostitute: a woman who cohabits with a man without marriage.
1847. Lytton, Lucretia, pt. II., ch. ii. 'If she's a good girl, and loves you, she'll not let you spend your money on her.' 'I haint such a ninny as that,' said Beck, with majestic contempt. 'I 'spises the flat that is done brown by the blowens.'
1848. C. Kingsley, Yeast, ch. xi. Why don't they have a short simple service now and then, that might catch the ears of the roughs and the blowens, without tiring out the poor thoughtless creatures' patience, as they do now?
For synonyms in the sense of prostitute, see Barrack-hack.
Blower, subs. (old).—1. A girl; a
contemptuous name in opposition
to jomer (q.v.); given by
Grose [1785].
2. (American and Colonial.)—A good talker; a boaster; a 'gas-bag.' Cf., Blow, verb, sense 1.
1863. Manhattan, in Evening Standard, 10 Dec. General Grant . . . is not one of the blower generals, [m.]
1864. Spectator, 22 Oct., 1202, col. 1. Notorious among our bar and the public as a blower, [m.]
1871. De Vere, Americanisms, p. 584. 'You need not blow so, my friend. I don't believe a word of what you say.' Hence also the noun blower, a braggart, with special reference to his success in imitating Baron Munchausen.
3. A pipe. Cf., Blow a cloud.
Blow Great Guns, verbal phr. (popular).—To
blow a hurricane;
a violent gale. Sometimes
varied by to blow great guns
and small arms.
1839. Harrison Ainsworth, Jack Sheppard [1889], 23. 'Curse me, if I don't think all the world means to cross the Thames this fine night!' observed Ben. 'One'd think it rained fares as well as blowed great guns.
