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Glite Dictionary
to blow someone's back out

to blow someone's back out

1 9.9
Make someone have bad back pain from lifting something heavy
  • phrasal verb
  • Informal
: lastimarse la espalda
  • My friend warned me that shoveling snow all morning could blow my back out.

Examples

  • Don't blow your back out lifting that!

  • That sofa is so heavy, you'll blow your back out if you try to lift it alone.

  • After moving all the furniture, he nearly blew his back out and had to lie down.

  • Are you sure you can lift that without blowing your back out?

  • Lifting that heavy box all by himself really blew his back out, and now he's in pain.

  • If you don't use proper technique while lifting, you might blow your back out.

  • She warned him that trying to lift the couch alone could blow his back out.

Synonyms

to blow back out
vsto blow someone's back out
  • Informal
1 8.5

To hurt your back badly by lifting or moving something heavy

cause milder spine pain often after lifting heavy objects

Antonyms

to support
∞ 1.0

Give help to a person or idea

to relieve
135 2.3

Make pain, stress, or worry less

How Painful

to injure
10 1.6
to blow someone's back out
  • Informal
1 9.9

Surface Forms

blow someone's back out infinitive
blowing someone's back out present participle
blows someone's back out third person singular
blew someone's back out past
blown someone's back out past participle

Morphology

blow + someone's + back + out

The combination 'blow ... out' conveys a sudden damaging action and with 'back' clearly points to injuring that body part, so a learner who knows 'blow', 'back' and 'out' could infer a meaning like 'damage or hurt the back'. However, the phrase is colloquial and uses a metaphorical extension (not a literal blowing out), and the exact sense (causing pain/strain) may not be fully predictable without exposure, so it is only partially transparent.

Etymology

The phrase blow someone's back out comes from the image of a sudden force that 'blows' the back, as if a quick strain makes the muscles tear or give way when lifting something heavy. So it means 'to cause severe back pain', usually after lifting or moving a very heavy object.