blow off
1. Lit. [for something] to be carried off something by moving air. The leaves of the trees blew off in the strong wind. My papers blew off the table.
2. Lit. [for a valve or pressure-maintaining device] to be forced off or away by high pressure. (See the examples.) The safety valve blew off and all the pressure escaped. The valve blew off, making a loud pop.
3. Fig. [for someone] to become angry; to lose one's temper; to blow off (some) steam. I just needed to blow off. Sorry for the outburst. I blew off at her.
4. Sl. to goof off; to waste time; to procrastinate. You blow off too much. All your best time is gone—blown off.
5. Sl. a time-waster; a goof-off. (Usually blow-off.) Fred is such a blow-off! Get busy. I don't pay blow-offs around here.
6. Sl. something that can be done easily or without much effort. (Usually blow-off.) Oh, that is just a blow-off. Nothing to it. The test was easy—a blow-off.
7. and blow someone or something off Sl. to ignore someone or something; to skip an appointment with someone; to not attend something where one is expected. He decided to sleep in and blow this class off. It wasn't right for you to just blow off an old friend the way you did.
8. and blow someone off Sl. to ignore someone in order to end a romantic or other relationship. She knew that he had blown her off when he didn't even call her for a month. Steve blew off Rachel before he started seeing Jane.
9. Sl the final insult; an event that causes a dispute. (Usually blow-off.) The blow-off was a call from some girl named Lulu who asked for Snookums. When the blow-off happened, nobody was expecting anything.
10. Sl. a dispute; an argument. (Usually blow-off.) After a blow-off like that, we all need a break. There was a big blow-off in the office today.
blow off
2. Disregard, ignore; evade something important. For example, If you blow off your homework, you're bound to run into trouble on the exam. [Slang; second half of 1900s]
3. Overcome, defeat easily, as in
With Rob pitching, we'll have no trouble blowing off the opposing team. [
Slang; 1950s] Also see
blow away, def. 2.
4. Ignore, abandon, refuse to take part. For example, The college is blowing off our request for a new student center. [Slang; mid-1900s]
blow off
v.1. To push or carry something away from something by the force of moving air: A gust of wind blew my hat off my head. The strong wind blew off the napkins that we had put on the tables.
2. To be pushed or carried off by the force of moving air: If I put a weather vane on top of the house, do you think it would blow off?
3. To remove something with powerful or violent force: The bomb blasts blew off the side of the building. The exploding car engine blew the hood off.
4. Slang To avoid or neglect some responsibility or obligation: Yesterday I blew off all my work and went to the movies. I know you don't want to go to work today, but if you blow your job off, you'll get fired.
5. Slang To fail to keep an appointment with someone: She's annoyed because her date blew her off. He's pretty reliable, and he won't blow you off.
6. Slang To abandon or leave someone behind in a rude way: The movie star suddenly blew off the waiting crowd and left the building. We set off to go fishing together, but halfway there my friends blew me off and went to the park instead.
7. Slang To treat something as unimportant; dismiss or ignore something: The writer blew off the criticism and continued to write as before. They made an unkind remark, but I just blew it off.
8. Vulgar Slang To perform fellatio on someone.