blast

Etymology 1

From Middle English blast, blest, from Old English blǣst (“blowing, blast”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāstu, from Proto-Germanic *blēstuz (“blowing, blast”). Cognate with West Frisian blast (“blast”), dialectal Dutch blast (“stubborn intent, drumming”), obsolete German Blast (“wind, blowing”), German blasen (“to blow”), Dutch blazen (“to blow”), Danish blæst (“wind”), French blaser (“to blunt, dull”). More at blow.

noun

1. A violent gust of wind.
   And see where surly Winter passes off, / Far to the north, and calls his ruffian blasts; / His blasts obey, and quit the howling hill.
   Their warm, thick under covering of fine wool protects them from the coldest blasts. April 1915, Enos A. Mills, “Wild Mountain Sheep”, in The Rocky Mountain Wonderland, Houghton Mifflin, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 37
2. A forcible stream of gas or liquid from an orifice, for example from a bellows, the mouth, etc.
3. A hit of a recreational drug from a pipe.
4. The continuous blowing to which one charge of ore or metal is subjected in a furnace.
   many tons of iron were melted at a blast
   Blast was produced by bellows worked by four 'blowers', three of whom worked at a time while the fourth stood ready to replace one of the others. 1957, H.R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry, page 146
5. The exhaust steam from an engine, driving a column of air out of a boiler chimney, and thus creating an intense draught through the fire; also, any draught produced by the blast.
6. An explosion, especially for the purpose of destroying a mass of rock, etc.
   arc blast
   Blast after blast, fiery outbreak after fiery outbreak, like a flaming barrage from within,[…]most of Edison's grounds soon became an inferno. As though on an incendiary rampage, the fires systematically devoured the contents of Edison's headquarters and facilities. 2006, Edwin Black, chapter 1, in Internal Combustion
   Signalman Bridges was killed by the blast, as was fireman Nightall. Amazingly, driver Gimbert came round some 200 yards away, on the grass outside the Station Hotel where he had been flung. January 12 2022, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43
7. An explosive charge for blasting.
   1852-1854, Charles Tomlinson, Cyclopaedia of Useful Arts Large blasts are often used.
8. A loud, sudden sound.
   the blast of triumph o'er thy grave c. 1832, William Cullen Bryant, The Battle-Field
9. A sudden, pernicious effect, as if by a noxious wind, especially on animals and plants; a blight.
10. (figurative, informal) A good time; an enjoyable moment.
    We had a blast at the party last night.
11. (marketing) A promotional message sent to an entire mailing list.
    an e-mail blast; a fax blast
12. A flatulent disease of sheep.
13. (bodybuilding, slang) A period of full dosage of PEDs as opposed to a period of reduced intake.
    Coordinate term: cruise
    blast and cruise

Etymology 2

From Middle English blasten, blesten, from Old English blǣstan (“to blow, blast”), from Proto-West Germanic *blēstijan, from Proto-Germanic *blēstijaną. Possibly related to Middle High German blesten (“to stand out, plop, splash”).

verb

1. (transitive) To make an impression on, by making a loud blast or din.
2. (intransitive) To make a loud noise.
3. (transitive, informal) To play (music) very loudly out of a speaker.
   Some kid is in his car blasting rap. You know, bass in the trunk and you can hear it 4 blocks away? I signal over to him and say "Hey, turn it up, I can't hear it." He turns around and says, "Shut Up Grandpa." 24 Apr 08, neilc...@yahoo.com, “ARRMO FEST”, in alt.rock-n-roll.metal.oldschool (Usenet)
4. (transitive) To shatter, as if by an explosion.
5. (transitive) To open up a hole in, usually by means of a sudden and imprecise method (such as an explosion).
   Blast right through it.
6. (transitive) To curse; to damn.
   Blast it! Foiled again.
7. (transitive, science fiction) To shoot, especially with an energy weapon (as opposed to one which fires projectiles).
   Chewbacca blasted the Stormtroopers with his laser rifle.
8. (soccer) To shoot; kick the ball in hope of scoring a goal.
   A Ricketts and Stuart Holden one-two around the box then created a decent chance for an almost instant equaliser - but Welsh full-back Ricketts blasted over when a calmer finish could have been rewarded. December 29, 2010, Chris Whyatt, “Chelsea 1 - 0 Bolton”, in BBC
9. To criticize or reprimand severely; to verbally discipline or punish.
   My manager suddenly blasted me yesterday for being a little late to work for five days in a row, because I was never getting myself up on time.
10. (transitive) To bring destruction or ruin on; to destroy.
11. (transitive) To blight or wither.
    A cold wind blasted the rose plants.
12. (intransitive, obsolete) To be blighted or withered.
    Tell age it daily wasteth; tell honour how it alters; Tell beauty how she blasteth; tell fauour how it falters: And as they shall reply, c. 1592, Walter Raleigh, “The Lie”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), published 1608
    The bud blasted in the blossom.
13. (intransitive, obsolete) To blow, for example on a trumpet.
14. (bodybuilding, slang) To have a period of full dosage of PEDs as opposed to reducing them during a cruise period.
    Coordinate term: cruise
    blast and cruise

intj

1. (chiefly British, informal) To show displeasure or disappointment: damn

Etymology 3

From Ancient Greek βλαστός (blastós, “germ or sprout”).

noun

1. (cytology) An immature or undifferentiated cell (e.g., lymphoblast, myeloblast).

Etymology 4

From BLAST (an acronym for Basic Local Alignment Search Tool).

verb

1. (biology, informal, transitive) To run a nucleotide sequence (for nucleic acids) or an amino acid sequence (for proteins) through a BLAST (Basic Local Alignment Search Tool).
   Blasting nucleotide sequences is not always that easy, because there is more ambiguity to the nucleotide sequence, and good hits have to have a 70% homology over the whole sequence to be reliable, compared to 25% with proteins. 2004, Andreas Bommarius, Bettina Riebel-Bommarius, Biocatalysis: Fundamentals and Applications, page 425