Blown out of the water

Posted by Know All on May 06, 2004

In Reply to: Blown out of the water posted by Patrick on May 04, 2004

: According to the sources I have checked, to "blow someone out of the water" means to suprise someone greatly. But could it also mean to be far superior to someone? Like: "McDonalds is by far the biggest fast food chain. All other are completely blown out of the water by this giant."

: All answers are greatly appreciated!

the imagery is from naval conflict - a big warship with powerful cannon would simply so outgun a smaller vessel that the smaller one could be blown (by explosion) clear of the water - the phrase connotes overwealming superiority of firepower. it has come to be used of any situation where one side wins a decisive victory - e.g. a person's legal proposition could be 'blown out of the water' by a decisive countering piece of case-law that left them in 'shock and awe' or a team scoring 9 goals in the first half of a football (soccer) match could 'blow them away' (it did - we scored 14 in total!)

blowing something (clear/clean) out of the water is simply an expression for an overwealmingly decisive engagement.