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blow v Cp OED ~ v1 27, 30 'inform on' for ~ the roast;
OED ~ hole 4, DC (Nfld: 1916), blowing hole (1861-) for comb.
1 Phr blow the pudding out of the pot: to shoot gun
on Christmas at same time the 'figgy pudding' is taken from the pot (M 71-115).
blow the roast; tell the ~ : to betray, inform on; to let
the secret out (1925 Dial Notes v, 326).
1891 Holly
Branch 13 Thinking that he was caught, and that the indignant skipper would 'blow
the roast' on him, he declared, that he never'dealed in such a commodity.' T 245/78-66
Down he comes on the wharf. Start tellin' the roast, whole story now 'bout how he come to
get this feller turned away from his house an' get his wife turned out.
2 Comb blow hole, blowing ~ : hole made in ice by
seal to come up to breathe; BOBBING-HOLE.
1861 DE BOILIEU 132 For
the purpose of obtaining this necessary element [fresh air], holes are kept open by the
seals throughout the winter, and are called by the Esquimaux 'blowing-holes.' 1912 HUTTON
224 When a man finds a blow-hole--that is, a round hole in the ice that a seal has made
for its occasional breath of air—he surveys it critically. 1933 GREENE 175
'Blowholes' are made in the same manner [as the bobbing-holes), but as they are only made
for the purpose of obtaining air, and for temporary use, they are allowed to freeze up
again. 1947 TANNER 499 From the camp the trappers make their way to the edge of the ocean
ice, the sinâ, where the seals sport in the chilly water... The hunter tries to
find the seal's 'blow-holes' where it comes to breathe. 1976 Decks Awash v (2), p.
5 As boys, when the ice came in, we would sneak off after school and spend hours waiting
for a 'blowing hole' just in hope to see maybe the whisker of a seal. We would search
behind all the 'clumpers' (rafted ice) to make sure there was not a live seal hidden
there.
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