A sudden failure of a tire or equipment under pressure; also a decisive victory or a hair styling treatment.
From 'blow' plus 'out,' originally (1920s) describing tire failures when inner tubes would 'blow out' through ruptures. Extended metaphorically to overwhelming victories and later to hair styling involving blow-drying.
The word's journey from automotive disaster to beauty salon treatment shows how language repurposes dramatic imagery - both involve air pressure and transformation, but with vastly different outcomes. The sports usage cleverly captures the explosive nature of decisive defeats.
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