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 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.