Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
blow upon en · VERB
Meanings
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To defame, discredit; make someone the subject of a scandal.
And thenne syre Gawayne made many men to blowe vpon syr launcelot / And all at ones they called hym fals recreaunt knyght.
"And then Sir Gawaine made many men to blow upon Sir Launcelot; and all at once they called him false recreant knight."
1485, Thomas Malory, Le Morte Darthur Book XX, Chapter xij, leaf 409r:'I'm afraid,' said the Jew, 'that he may say something which will get us into trouble.'
'That's very likely,' returned Sikes with a malicious grin. 'You're blowed upon, Fagin.'
1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “chapter 13”, in Oliver Twist; […], volume (please specify |volume=I, II, or III), London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC:
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(dated, informal) To inform against.
a lady's maid whose character had been blown upon
1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter III, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:If it wos so, which I still don't say it is (for I will not prewaricate to you, sir), let that there boy keep his father's place, and take care of his mother; don't blow upon that boy's father — do not do it, sir — and let that father go into the line of the reg'lar diggin', and make amends for what he would have undug […]
1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities:How far the very custom of hearing anything spouted withers and blows upon a fine passage, may be seen in those speeches from [Shakespeare's] Henry V. which are current in the mouths of schoolboys.
1811, Charles Lamb, On the Tragedies of Shakespeare Considered with Reference to their Fitness for Stage Representation:
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To take the bloom or freshness off something.
Forms