blower

«blower» in Mova's school dictionary: A machine or person that blows air, such as a leaf… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

noun (a blower, blowers)

meaning for a pupil

1) A machine or person that blows air, such as a leaf blower, a snow blower or a fan heater. tree →

2) (UK, informal, old-fashioned slang) The telephone: «Get on the blower to the plumber.» tree →

3) Someone who blows something: a glass-blower shapes hot glass by blowing into it. tree →

4) (in «whistle-blower») A person who tells the public or the authorities about wrongdoing in a company or organisation. tree →

sense in the lessons

In everyday life people use leaf blowers in autumn and snow blowers in winter (Canada, the northern USA). In British TV and stories «on the blower» means on the phone. On the news a whistle-blower is a worker who reveals cheating or danger. Phrases: «leaf blower», «on the blower», «glass-blower», «whistle-blower».

examples

• The neighbour's leaf blower is very noisy. tree →
• In Canada we clear the drive with a snow blower. tree →
• Grandad said, «I'll get on the blower and ring the doctor.» tree →
• We watched a glass-blower make a blue vase. tree →
• A whistle-blower told the newspaper the factory was unsafe. tree →
• The hand dryer is a hot-air blower. tree →
• So the blower let him off, and he came down without hurt. tree →

note

Countable noun. «Blower» for the phone is old-fashioned UK slang; children may hear it from grandparents. «Whistle-blower» is often written with a hyphen.

In the corpora

• Butterflies have taste sensors on their feet and drink through a long tube called a proboscis that stays rolled up like a party blower.
• Whistle-blowers can lose friends, and adults can lose their jobs, so speaking up can be costly.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «blower» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.