blowout

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbloʊaʊt/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

blowout (plural blowouts)

1. A sudden puncturing of a pneumatic tyre/tire.
2. A sudden release of oil and gas from a well.
3. (slang) A social function, especially one with large quantities of food.
   • 2015, Trish Nicholson, Inside the Crocodile: The Papua New Guinea Journals, Troubador Publishing Ltd, →ISBN:

     Feathers were deeply ruffled when it became known that the BHC had been in town and taken me out for a meal without hosting a big blowout for all the local Brits. I didn't frequent the hotel bar, and by then, accepted few invitations to parties ...

   • 2016, Blayne Cooper, Blind Side of the Moon, Bella Books, →ISBN:

     Chloe's lips formed a thin line, and she guided her sister a few feet away from Aubrey and Erik, her hooker heels sinking into the shells a little as they went. "C'mon, Jane. Erik's cousin is a Barnie and is hosting a blowout tonight. The party is in Salem"

4. (slang) A large or extravagant meal.
   • 2011, Fodor's Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North: with Paris:

     The dining room at Alain Ducasse's flagship Paris restaurant gleams with 10,000 crystals, confirming that this is the flashiest place in town for a blowout meal.

   • 2015, Judita Wignall, Raw and Simple Detox: A Delicious Body Reboot for Health, Energy, and Weight Loss, →ISBN, page 46:

     Eating a big blowout meal that probably includes every one of the foods you should be avoiding will trigger more food cravings […]

5. (slang, sports) A sporting contest that is decidedly one-sided and whose outcome is no longer in doubt.

   The game between the two teams was nothing but a blowout.

6. (slang) An argument; an altercation.
   • 2014, Christine Pope, Star Crossed, page 141:

     The day my aunt and I had talked was just as vivid to me now as it had been eight years ago, when I'd had a blowout with my mother over my decision to go to school in Tucson rather than staying safely up here in northern Arizona.

7. (geology) A sandy depression in a sand dune ecosystem caused by the removal of sediments by wind.
8. (Australia) An extreme and unexpected increase in costs, such as in government estimates for a project.
9. The cleaning of the flues of a boiler from scale, etc., by a blast of steam.
10. An unsightly flap of skin caused by an ear piercing that is too large.
11. An instance of having one's hair blow-dried and styled.
    • 2007, Janis Spindel, How to Date Men: Dating Secrets from America's Top Matchmaker, Penguin, →ISBN, page 55:

      Get a blowout! Your hair is one of the first things a guy will notice because, hello, it's right at eye level. So take the time to do it right. No ponytails. No frizzy disasters. Wear your hair down.

    • '2011, Donna Kakonge; PhD Student, The Politics of Black Hair Online Coursebook, →ISBN:

      I mean, how did the African sista' who was getting her hair braided in the first movie get a blowout? And the slave trader's shirt wasn't even right! And the look on the African woman's face when she was watching the white ladies pet her "friend" ...

    • 2017, Anysia Marcell Kiel, Discovering the Healer Within: Use Chakras & Intuition to Clear Negativity & Release Pain, Llewellyn Worldwide, →ISBN:

      A couple of weeks later, I contacted Melissa to get a blowout for my hair because I was going to New York for an interview but I had to be in the city early in the morning. Melissa said I could come to her condo the night before the event.

    • 2019, Susan Hyatt, Bare: A 7-Week Program to Transform Your Body, Get More Energy, Feel Amazing, and Become the Bravest, Most Unstoppable Version of You, BenBella Books, →ISBN:

      Go to your local salon and get a blowout. Or put a blue streak in your hair. Or if you're commitment-phobic, get a temporary blue extension braided into your hair.

12. (tattoo) The blurring of a tattoo due to ink penetrating too far into the skin and dispersing.

• blow out

• bowl out, bowl-out, outblow, outbowl