Blister

[Joel S. Berson]

My image is simply raising blisters by holding someone to the fire.

I notice that the OED2 has "blister, v. 5. trans. Used as an 
imprecation. slang" from 1840 (but rarely; the only other quotation is 1964).

1840   H. Cockton Life Valentine Vox xxvi,   Blister 'em! Where can 
the scoundrels be got to?
1964   P. G. Wodehouse Frozen Assets iii. 46   Why didn't they send 
it up before, blister their insides? I've been in agonies of suspense.


Joel

At 9/21/2014 12:58 PM, victor steinbok wrote:
>An LATimes headline grabbed my attention:
>http://goo.gl/FoApUJ
>Rand Paul blisters Obama and Clinton, calls for GOP diversity
>
>I was a bit puzzled about this use of "blister". If this use is common, I
>must live a sheltered life (well, I do, but that's beside the point). To
>me, it looks like backward formation from "blistering" (attack, critique).
>
>Another possibility is either a mishearing or an eggcorn of "blitz",
>although that seems less likely in this context.
>
>VS-)
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org