blow off steam

blow off steam

English

Etymology

Relief valves released the excess pressure in a steam engine to prevent the boiler from exploding.

Pronunciation

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Verb

blow off steam (third-person singular simple present blows off steam, present participle blowing off steam, simple past blew off steam, past participle blown off steam)

1. (idiomatic) To vent; to talk or take action (especially in a ranting or unrestrained way) so as to relieve stress.

   Don't take it personally when he shouts like that. He's just blowing off steam.

   I told her she could call me and talk any time she wanted to blow off steam.

2. (idiomatic) To do something to get rid of excess energy.

Translations

to vent to relieve stress

Dutch: stoom afblazen Finnish: puhista German: Dampf ablassen (de) Hebrew: קיטר / קִטֵּר‎ (he) (qitér) (slang)

Icelandic: rasa út, fá útrás Portuguese: desabafar (pt) Russian: спусти́ть пар (spustítʹ par)

See also

• let off steam

References

• blow off steam at OneLook Dictionary Search