blowout

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈbloʊaʊt/

• Audio (AU)

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blowout (plural blowouts)

1. A sudden puncturing of a pneumatic tyre/tire.
2. A sudden release of oil and gas from a well.
3. (slang) A social function, especially one with large quantities of food.
4. (slang) A large or extravagant meal.
   • 2011, Fodor's Normandy, Brittany & the Best of the North: with Paris

     The dining room at Alain Ducasse's flagship Paris restaurant gleams with 10,000 crystals, confirming that this is the flashiest place in town for a blowout meal.

5. (slang, sports) A sporting contest that is decidedly one-sided and whose outcome is no longer in doubt.

   The game between the two teams was nothing but a blowout.

6. (slang) An argument; an altercation.
   • 2014, Christine Pope, Star Crossed (page 141)

     The day my aunt and I had talked was just as vivid to me now as it had been eight years ago, when I'd had a blowout with my mother over my decision to go to school in Tucson rather than staying safely up here in northern Arizona.

7. (geology) A sandy depression in a sand dune ecosystem caused by the removal of sediments by wind.
8. (Australia) An extreme and unexpected increase in costs, such as in government estimates for a project.
9. The cleaning of the flues of a boiler from scale, etc., by a blast of steam.
10. An unsightly flap of skin caused by an ear piercing that is too large.

• blow out

• bowl out, bowl-out, outblow, outbowl