Inblow

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The act of air, wind or some other force being blown into a space from outside
2. A rushing or driving of air or matter inward, as into an enclosed place
3. Something carried into a place by a current of wind or air moving toward its interior

Etymology: The word "inblow" is a fossil of Old English, surviving in English for centuries after most of its relatives vanished. It descends from Old English "inblāwan," meaning to breathe upon, inspire, or puff up, built from the prefix "in-" and the verb "blow." The sense of "inspire" comes from the older idea of breath as the carrier of life or spirit, which is why the same verb could mean both a gust of air and a divine inspiration. Middle English inherited the word as "inblowen," and it carried the same pair of meanings: to swell something with air, and to breathe something into it. Over time the verb faded from everyday speech and was replaced by more familiar words. The most striking thing about it is its twin, "inflate." Both come from the same Latin verb "inflare," meaning to blow into, but "inblow" arrived through the native English line while "inflate" was borrowed directly from Latin much later. The two words are doublets: one native, one learned, sharing a single meaning and a single root.