BLA'AST, n. [Eng. blaze, which is primarily a blowing or swelling.] 1. A gust or puff of wind; or a sudden gust of wind.2. The sound made by blowing a wind instrument.3. Any pernicious or destructive influence upon animals or plants.4. The infection of any thing pestilential; a blight on plants.5. A sudden compression of air, attended with a shock, caused by the discharge of cannon.6. A forcible stream of air from the mouth, from a bellows or the like.7. A violent explosion of gun powder, in splitting rocks, and the explosion of inflammable air in a mine.8. The whole blowing of a forge necessary to melt one supply of ore; a common use of the word among workmen in forges in American.
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