Extremely hot or intensely painful, or extremely critical and scathing in tone; moving very fast.
From Middle English 'blister,' possibly from Old Norse 'blystre' or related to 'blow' (swelling). The sense expanded from physical blisters to metaphorical intensity.
In chemistry, blistering agents like mustard gas work by breaking down cell membranes and creating actual blisters filled with burned tissue—understanding why blistering hurts so much revealed crucial details about cell structure that led to medical advances.
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