blow away

Kill; also, surprise, impress, overwhelm. The first usage dates from the Vietnam War but it is the second, from the 1970s, that is more cur- rent today. The CBS television show This Morning had it on March 20, 1990: “We were just talking about how blown away we were by [violinist] Joshua Bell.” It is on its way to becoming a cliché. See also BLOW ONE’S MIND.