different between havoc vs blow

English

Alternative forms

• havock (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English havok, havyk, from Old French havok in the phrase crier havok (“cry havoc”) a signal to soldiers to seize plunder, from Old French crier (“cry out, shout”) + havot (“pillaging, looting”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?hæv.?k/

Noun

havoc (usually uncountable, plural havocs)

1. widespread devastation, destruction

   • Ye gods, what havoc does ambition make / Among your works!
2. mayhem

Usage notes

The noun havoc is most often used in the set phrase wreak havoc.

Derived terms

• play havoc, raise havoc, wreak havoc, cry havoc, break havoc

Translations

Verb

havoc (third-person singular simple present havocs, present participle havocking, simple past and past participle havocked)

1. To pillage.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Henry V, Act I, Scene II:

     To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

2. To cause havoc.

Usage notes

As with other verbs ending in vowel + -c, the gerund-participle is sometimes spelled havocing, and the preterite and past participle is sometimes spelled havoced; for citations using these spellings, see their respective entries. However, the spellings havocking and havocked are far more common. Compare panic, picnic.

Translations

Interjection

havoc

1. A cry in war as the signal for indiscriminate slaughter.

   • Do not cry havoc, where you should but hunt / With modest warrant.

References

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bl??/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /blo?/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

From Middle English blowen, from Old English bl?wan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *bl?an, from Proto-Germanic *bl?an? (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *b?leh?- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Latin fl? (“to blow”) and Old Armenian ?????? (be?un, “fertile”)).

Verb

blow (third-person singular simple present blows, present participle blowing, simple past blew, past participle blown)

1. (intransitive) To produce an air current.
   • 1653, Izaak Walton, The Compleat Angler

     Hark how it rains and blows!

2. (transitive) To propel by an air current.

3. (intransitive) To be propelled by an air current.

4. (transitive) To create or shape by blowing; as in to blow bubbles, to blow glass.
5. To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means.

6. To clear of contents by forcing air through.

7. (transitive) To cause to make sound by blowing, as a musical instrument.
8. (intransitive) To make a sound as the result of being blown.
9. (intransitive, of a cetacean) To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding.
10. (intransitive) To explode.

11. (transitive, with "up" or with prep phrase headed by "to") To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed.

12. (transitive) To cause sudden destruction of.

13. (intransitive) To suddenly fail destructively.

14. (intransitive) (used to express displeasure or frustration) Damn.
15. (intransitive, slang, sometimes considered vulgar) To be very undesirable.

    Synonym: suck

16. (transitive, slang) To recklessly squander.

17. (transitive, vulgar) To fellate; to perform oral sex on (usually a man)

    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:give head

18. (transitive, slang) To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry.

19. To make flyblown, to defile, especially with fly eggs.
20. (obsolete) To spread by report; to publish; to disclose.

    • Through the court his courtesy was blown.

21. (obsolete) To inflate, as with pride; to puff up.
22. (intransitive) To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.
23. (transitive) To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue.

    (Can we find and add a quotation of Sir Walter Scott to this entry?)

24. (dated) To talk loudly; boast; storm.
    • a. 1940, Mildred Haun, "Shin-Bone Rocks" in The Hawk's Done Gone p. 218:

      He didn't just set around and try to out sweettalk somebody; he got out and out-fit somebody. He wouldn't be blowing when he told his boys how he fit for the woman he got.

    • 1969, Charles Ambrose McCarthy, The Great Molly Maguire Hoax (page 113)

      At the breaking edge with him and completely fed up with his everlasting bragging and blowing about his personal exploits, and desirous of putting him somewhere, anywhere, so they wouldn't be continuously annoyed by him, […]

    • 1976, David Toulmin, Blown Seed (page 148)

      Audie never liked him because he was further in with old Craig than he was, bragging and blowing about his work and the things he could do, while Audie sat quiet as a mouse listening to his blab.

25. (slang, informal, African-American Vernacular) To sing.

26. (Scientology, intransitive) To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner.

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

blow (plural blows)

1. A strong wind.

2. (informal) A chance to catch one’s breath.

3. (uncountable, US, slang) Cocaine.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:cocaine
4. (uncountable, Britain, slang) Cannabis.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

5. (uncountable, US Chicago Regional, slang) Heroin.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:heroin

6. (informal, vulgar) A blowjob; fellatio

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:oral sex

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English blo, bloo, from Old English bl?w (“blue”), from Proto-Germanic *bl?waz (“blue, dark blue, grey, black”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?l?w- (“yellow, blond, grey”). Cognate with Latin flavus (“yellow”). Doublet of blue.

Adjective

blow (comparative blower or more blow, superlative blowest or most blow)

2. (now chiefly dialectal, Northern England) Blue.

Etymology 3

From Middle English blowe, blaw, northern variant of bl?we, from Proto-Germanic *blewwan? (“to beat”) (compare Old Norse blegði (“wedge”), German bläuen, Middle Dutch blouwen). Related to block.

Noun

blow (plural blows)

1. The act of striking or hitting.

   Synonyms: bace, strike, hit, punch

2. A sudden or forcible act or effort; an assault.
   • 1838-1842', Thomas Arnold, History of Rome

     A vigorous blow might win [Hanno's camp].

3. A damaging occurrence.

   Synonyms: disaster, calamity
4. (Australia, shearing, historical) A cut made to a sheep's fleece by a shearer using hand-shears.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 4

From Middle English blowen, from Old English bl?wan, from Proto-Germanic *bl?an? (compare Dutch bloeien, German blühen), from Proto-Indo-European *b?leh?- (compare Latin flor?re (“to bloom”)).

Verb

blow (third-person singular simple present blows, present participle blowing, simple past blew, past participle blown)

1. To blossom; to cause to bloom or blossom.
   • 1599, William Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing, Act 4 Scene 1

     You seem to me as Dian in her orb,

     As chaste as is the bud ere it be blown;

   • 1667, John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 5

     How blows the citron grove.

Related terms

• full-blown

Translations

Noun

blow (plural blows)

1. A mass or display of flowers; a yield.
2. A display of anything brilliant or bright.
3. A bloom, state of flowering.

Related terms

• ablow
• elder-blow

Translations

Anagrams

• bowl

Middle English

Verb

blow

1. Alternative form of blowen (“to blow”)