blow up phrasal verb ( see also ↑ blow )
1 . to destroy something, or to be destroyed, by an explosion:
The plane blew up in midair.
blow something ↔ up
Rebels attempted to blow up the bridge.
2 . blow something ↔ up to fill something with air or gas:
Can you blow up this balloon?
We’ll blow the tyres up.
3 . if a situation, argument etc blows up, it suddenly becomes important or dangerous:
A crisis had blown up over the peace talks.
4 . blow something ↔ up if you blow up a photograph, you make it larger SYN enlarge
5 . informal to become very angry with someone:
Jenny’s father blew up when she didn’t come home last night.
blow up at
I was surprised at the way he blew up at Hardy.
6 . if bad weather blows up, it suddenly arrives:
It looks as if there’s a storm blowing up.
7 . blow up in sb’s face if something you have done or planned to do blows up in your face, it suddenly goes wrong:
One of his deals had just blown up in his face.