Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to destroy, to ruin.

1821		T. Creevey letter 16 Feb. in Gore Creevey’s Life and Times (1934) 140: Warrender [...] did nothing but bluster and vow vengeance upon me at his club at White's, telling every one that the very first opportunity, he would blow me up sky high in the House of Commons.
1952		W.R. Burnett Little Men, Big World 84: Might set off a chain of explosions that would blow the city sky high.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 216: He kept telling Cathcart he would blow the whole thing sky-high if he didn’t order Solly to cut Jane loose.
1990		(con. early 1950s) J. Ellroy L.A. Confidential 57: She’d catch him in whoppers, it would blow their deal sky high.

2. to collapse, to come to ruins.

1953		L. Uris Battle Cry (1964) 234: Any co-operation [...] from the Navy will blow sky high.
1981		J. Ellroy Brown’s Requiem 74: My case had blown sky high, the two people I had vowed to protect were in grave danger.