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Glite Dictionary
🕯️ To extinguish 💡 To break (device) 🛢️ To erupt (well)
to blow out

to blow out

26 4.1
Stop working because of too much electricity or heat
  • phrasal verb
  • /bloʊ aʊt/
  • Specialized
translation icon : fundirse
  • A fuse blew out, Monsieur Talbot.
  • tire blew out
  • windows blew out
  • lights blew out

I, I actually, I think I've seen my phone charger in the like the cigarette cigarette port there actually blow out.

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Examples

  • If it goes critical, it could blow out the whole magnetic shield.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • When they looked inside, they could see that the pilot light had blown out.

    Fiction book (1998)

  • Will you blow out that light?

    Jesse James (1939)

  • The electrical disturbance blew out the transistors.

    Mortal Kombat (1995)

  • I was driving northbound on I-35 just south of the I-40 junction when my left front tire blew out.

    Fiction book (2002)

  • The circuit breaker tripped when the faulty light bulb blew out, causing the entire room to go dark.

  • When the storm hit, several fuses blew out, leaving houses without electricity.

  • After the power surge, my laptop charger blew out and stopped working entirely.

Synonyms

to blow
vsto blow out
∞ 3.5

To break suddenly because of pressure or too much electricity

fails due to excess current or heat rather than sudden bursting
to burn out
vsto blow out
24 4.7

Stop working, especially things like lights or fuses, because they get too hot from too much use

is limited to electrical parts failing from excess current or overheating

Antonyms

to work
∞ 1.0

To function correctly, as a machine or device

How Damaged

to destroy
∞ 1.0
to burn out
24 4.7
to blow out
  • Specialized
26 4.1
malfunction
96 4.5
to work
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

blow out infinitive
blew out past
blown out past participle
blowing out present participle
blows out third person singular

Morphology

blow + out

The sense 'to erupt forcefully' is directly derivable from 'blow' (to expel or move with force) combined with 'out' (outward/completely), so the image of something bursting or being expelled outward is compositional. This motion/force + particle pattern is common in English (e.g. 'blew out a tyre', 'blew out a candle') and is likely recoverable by a B1 learner who knows both constituents.

Etymology

Blow out for bulbs and fuses comes from the image of a sudden pop or spark that makes them go dark, as if the part was blown out. So it now means 'to stop working' suddenly or fail.