Today we are talking about a simple verb -- "to blow ." You can also blow your nose when you are sick . Or , when you love someone , you may blow them a kiss . Those expressions are easy to understand . But what does it mean to blow someone's cover ? Here is a hint : A spy might worry about her cover being blown , especially if she uses a false name and a made-up life story . When someone's cover is blown , that person's real identity is discovered ! But even us non-spies can use this expression . Anytime you present false information and then you let the truth slip out , you have blown your cover . Being discovered when you are trying to hide can be very upsetting . You could become angry . In such times , you might blow your stack , or blow your top . You could also blow a fuse or blow a gasket . These all mean to get so angry that you lose control . So , be careful when you are blowing your stack , top , fuse or gasket . When you are so angry , you might make mistakes . For example , if you blow your stack while taking a test , you might blow it . In other words , you fail it as a result of your own actions . You can also blow an important assignment at work . You can blow it with a personal relationship . Unfortunately , with almost anything … you can blow it ! Blowing it is really upsetting . So , to blow off steam , you might go for a long walk in the woods . Blowing off steam helps us to relax when we are angry or upset . Think of a teapot . It releases steam when it gets too hot . The same can be said for us ! Now , let's talk about grammar for a moment . As you probably know , when we use the active tense of a verb , the subject is doing the action . In the passive tense , the subject is receiving the action . For example , we often use the expression mind blown in the passive tense . You can have your mind blown by just about anything that's really , really good . I've had my mind blown by a really smart movie or by a really delicious meal . You can also turn this expression around and make it active . For example , I can say , “I had an amazing Saturday night . That movie and meal really blew my mind !” We also commonly use this expression as an adjective . Let's say you are a great soccer player . Your abilities to dribble and score are mind-blowing . In fact , in your last season , every game you played was a blow out . In other words , your team beat the other team by many , many points . Now , let's say you that during one of those blow-out games , you scored the most points . So , when reporters interview you , you take credit for the win . You even criticize your teammates for almost blowing the game with all of their mistakes . As a result , your team gets upset with you , and your fans are not too happy either . You blew your own horn way too much . When people blow their own horns , they talk too much and too proudly about their own successes . The words may be music to their ears , but others rarely enjoy listening to people blowing their own horns . But let's go back to your soccer game . Everyone is angry with you after you blew the press conference . So , you decide to leave town for a few days -- just until the bad press blows over . When a storm blows over , it passes . This storm will blow over soon ." Happily for us , problems can blow over too . We have thousands of expressions that use the verb "blow ." Okay , not really thousands . I am blowing things out of proportion . When you blow something out of proportion you make it seem bigger and more important than it is . Since we are talking about making a big deal out of nothing , we have a fun expression that means the same thing . If you make a small problem into a bigger one , you have made a mountain out of a molehill .