blast vs blow

blast

noun
  • A violent gust of wind. 

  • An explosion, especially for the purpose of destroying a mass of rock, etc. 

  • The 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. 

  • An immature or undifferentiated cell (e.g., lymphoblast, myeloblast). 

  • A loud, sudden sound. 

  • A good time; an enjoyable moment. 

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

  • A hit of a recreational drug from a pipe. 

  • A forcible stream of gas or liquid from an orifice, for example from a bellows, the mouth, etc. 

  • The continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace. 

  • An explosive charge for blasting. 

  • A promotional message sent to an entire mailing list. 

  • A flatulent disease of sheep. 

verb
  • To curse; to damn. 

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

  • To make a loud noise. 

  • To make an impression on, by making a loud blast or din. 

  • To shoot; kick the ball in hope of scoring a goal. 

  • To shatter, as if by an explosion. 

  • To criticize or reprimand severely; to verbally discipline or punish. 

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

  • To blight or wither. 

  • To bring destruction or ruin on; to destroy. 

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

intj
  • To show displeasure or disappointment: damn 

blow

noun
  • A strong wind. 

  • Synonym of button (“the punchy or suspenseful line of dialogue that concludes a scene”) 

  • Cocaine. 

  • An instance of using high-pressure air to empty water from the ballast tanks of a submarine, increasing the submarine's buoyancy and causing it to surface. 

  • A damaging occurrence. 

  • Cannabis. 

  • A mass or display of flowers; a yield. 

  • An outcrop of quartz from surrounding rock, thought to indicate mineral deposits below. 

  • A bloom, state of flowering. 

  • A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault. 

  • The act of striking or hitting. 

  • A blowjob; fellatio. 

  • A display of anything brilliant or bright. 

  • Heroin. 

  • A chance to catch one's breath. 

  • A cut made to a sheep's fleece by a shearer using hand-shears. 

adj
  • Blue. 

verb
  • (used to express displeasure or frustration) Damn. 

  • To create or shape by blowing; as in to blow bubbles, to blow glass. 

  • To flatulate or defecate. 

  • To produce an air current. 

  • To fail at something; to mess up; to make a mistake. 

  • To propel by an air current (or, if under water, a water current), usually with the mouth. 

  • To fellate; to perform oral sex on (usually a man). 

  • To make flyblown, to defile, especially with fly eggs. 

  • (of a fly) To lay eggs; to breed. 

  • To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue. 

  • To be propelled by an air current. 

  • To sing. 

  • To blow from a gun. 

  • To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom. 

  • To make a sound as the result of being blown. 

  • To clear of contents by forcing air through. 

  • To cause the sudden destruction of. 

  • To cause to make sound by blowing, as a musical instrument. 

  • To direct or move, usually of a person to a particular location. 

  • To burst or explode; to occur suddenly 

  • To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry. 

  • To suddenly fail destructively. 

  • To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding. 

  • To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means. 

  • To be very undesirable. 

  • To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner. 

  • To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff. 

  • To recklessly squander. 

  • To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed. 

How often have the words blast and blow occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )