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Glite Dictionary
to blow the coals

to blow the coals

7.5
Make a fire burn hotter by blowing air on hot coals
  • idiom
translation icon : avivar las brasas
  • He crouched by the hearth and began to blow the coals with careful breaths.

Examples

  • Old campfire manuals often instruct you to blow the coals gently to revive a dying flame.

  • Before adding more wood, remember to blow the coals so the fire stays hot.

  • He loves to blow the coals to keep the fire alive.

  • Can you blow the coals for me?

  • Before adding more wood, remember to blow the coals so the fire stays hot.

  • He crouched by the hearth and began to blow the coals with careful breaths.

  • Old campfire manuals often instruct you to blow the coals gently to revive a dying flame.

Synonyms

to stoke
vsto blow the coals
7 5.6

To add fuel or stir a fire to make it burn hotter

uses a directed stream of air to make a fire burn hotter quickly

Antonyms

to douse
20 5.1

To stop a fire or light from burning

to smother
11 5.3

To stop a small fire by covering it so it has no air

How Hot

to stoke
7 5.6
to blow the coals
7.5

Surface Forms

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

Morphology

blow + the + coal

The meaning 'to make a fire burn hotter by blowing air on the coals' is directly and literally compositional from 'blow' (to force air out) + 'coal' (hot ember), with 'the' as a determiner. This is a concrete, physical action with close cross-linguistic parallels (e.g. Spanish 'soplar las brasas'), so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

The phrase blow the coals comes from a simple image: you blow on hot coals with your breath to make them glow and start a bigger flame. That's why it means 'to make a fire burn hotter or ignite'.