Blowe

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. An old-fashioned past participle of the verb to blow, used for something that has been moved by wind, puffed up with air, or come into flower
2. A obsolete form of the past participle of blow, describing something that was driven by a breeze, inflated, or opened into blossom
3. Archaic past tense form meaning that something was stirred by moving air, swollen by breath, or had flowered in earlier times

Etymology: "Blowe" is an older spelling of "blow," and it can stand for two verbs that were never related in Old English. One was "blāwan," meaning to move air or breathe out, as in wind or the breath from a mouth. The other was "blōwan," meaning to bloom or flower. The two sounded alike and were written alike, so they merged in spelling long before anyone thought of them as different words. Modern dictionaries separate them as distinct entries, which is why the same spelling can refer to a gust of wind or to a flower opening. The bloom sense came from a root meaning to flourish or swell, while the wind sense came from a root meaning to puff or blow. Their shared spelling is a historical accident of sound and writing rather than a shared origin.