# blowen
## English
### Noun

blowen (plural blowens)
* (obsolete, vulgar) A prostitute; a courtesan.
** 1840, Regular Slangsman, The Flash Mirror, Or, Kiddy's Cabinet, page 12:Poll Strokem, an old blowen, well known about the streets of London, was continually crying; see her whenever you would, she was all snot and slobber, like a calf's head on a hot summer's day […]
** August 1831, Bryan O'Toole, “Barney Moore”, in Blackwood Magazine:Many a blowen of saloonic fame

#### Synonyms

* blowess

### References

* “blowen”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Bowlen

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English blāwan, from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną.

#### Alternative forms

* blouen, blow, blowe, blowyn
* blawe (Northern or Kent)
* blawen, bloawen (Early Middle English)

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈblɔu̯ən/
* (Northern) IPA: /ˈblɑu̯(ən)/

#### Verb

blowen
* To blow (produce a current of air):
** To blow away; to blow to eliminate or remove.
** To breathe (in or out); to inhale or exhale.
** To play a wind instrument (by blowing)
** To strengthen a fire by blowing on it.
** To inflate or blow up; to expand by blowing.
** To gasp; to struggle to breathe.
* To spread a communicable disease (by exhalation).
* To smelt; to extract metal from ore.
* To make a sound, especially flatulence.
* To insult or brag (talk coarsely)
* To proclaim; to broadly disseminate.
* (rare) To be blown around (by wind).

##### Conjugation

| infinitive | (to) blowen, blowe | (to) blowen, blowe |
| | present tense | past tense |
| 1st-person singular | blowe | blew |
| 2nd-person singular | blowest | blewe, blew |
| 3rd-person singular | bloweth | blew |
| subjunctive singular | blowe | blewe$^1$ |
| imperative singular | blowe | — |
| plural$^2$ | blowen, blowe | blewen, blewe |
| imperative plural | bloweth, blowe | — |
| participles | blowynge, blowende | blowen, blowe, yblowen, yblowe |
$^1$Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English. $^2$Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

##### Derived terms

* blow
* blowere
* blowynge

##### Descendants

* English: blow
* Geordie English: blaw
* Scots: blaw
* Yola: blay

##### References

* “blouen, v.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-14.

### Etymology 2

Inherited from Old English blōwan, from Proto-West Germanic *blōan, from Proto-Germanic *blōaną.

#### Alternative forms

* blowe

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈblɔu̯ən/

#### Verb

blowen
* To blossom; to flower.
** a. 1250, unknown, “Sumer is icumen in”‎:Lhude sing cuccu / Groweþ sed / and bloweþ medSing loudly, cuckoo! / seed grows / and fields bloom
* (figurative) To grow, to flourish.

##### Usage notes

This verb is occasionally weak, but usually remains strong, probably due to influence from Etymology 1.

##### Conjugation

| infinitive | (to) blowen, blowe | (to) blowen, blowe |
| | present tense | past tense |
| 1st-person singular | blowe | blew |
| 2nd-person singular | blowest | blewe, blew |
| 3rd-person singular | bloweth | blew |
| subjunctive singular | blowe | blewe$^1$ |
| imperative singular | blowe | — |
| plural$^2$ | blowen, blowe | blewen, blewe |
| imperative plural | bloweth, blowe | — |
| participles | blowynge, blowende | blowen, blowe, yblowen, yblowe |
$^1$Replaced by the indicative in later Middle English. $^2$Sometimes used as a formal 2nd-person singular.

##### Derived terms

* blowynge

##### Descendants

* English: blow

##### References

* “blouen, v.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-07-12.

## Old English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈbloː.wen/

### Verb

blōwen
* plural present subjunctive of blōwan

### Participle

blōwen
* past participle of blōwan