Main Entry: blow up

Function: verb

Date: 1536

transitive verb

1 : to build up or tout to an unreasonable extent <advertisers blowing up their products>
2 : to rend apart, shatter, or destroy by explosion
3 : to fill up with a gas (as air) <blow up a balloon>
4 : to make a photographic enlargement of
5 : to bring into existence by blowing of wind <it may blow up a storm>intransitive verb 1 a : explode b : to be disrupted or destroyed (as by explosion) c : to lose self-control; especially : to become violently angry
2 : to become or come into being by or as if by blowing of wind
3 a : to become filled with a gas b : to become expanded to unreasonable proportions