Your English: Idioms: blow

‘A spokesman for the council denied there had been a plot and said the whole affair had been blown out of all proportion’. If something is blown out of (all) proportion, it is claimed that it is much worse or more dangerous than it really is.

If someone blows their top, they suddenly become very angry, as in ‘He blew his top when I asked him for a pay rise’. To blow a fuse can be used with the same meaning.

If it’s blowing a gale, it’s very windy, as in ‘I wouldn’t go out if I were you. It’s blowing a gale out there’.

A person who emphasizes his or her own successes and achievements to other people can be said to be blowing their own trumpet, as in ‘He never misses an opportunity to blow his own trumpet when it comes to how much money he earns’.

If you blow the whistle, you tell the public or someone in authority about something wrong that you know someone is doing, especially at the place where you work, as in ‘People should be able to blow the whistle on corruption and incompetence without losing their jobs’.

If someone blows away the cobwebs, they do something that makes them feel more lively and think more clearly, as in ‘Come on. A good brisk walk in the snow will soon help you blow away the cobwebs’.  

Something that blows your mind impresses you a lot or makes you feel very excited, as in ‘Seeing them live on stage again after all these years really blew my mind’.