Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to explode (usu. with rage).

1906		Eve. Star (Washington, DC) 30 Sept. 39/2: Honest, I ain’t come so near blowin’ out both fuses in a long while.
1914		Eve. Star (Wash., DC) 26 Apr. 39/1: But he don’t blow a fuse, or anything like that. He just smiles sarcastic.
1918		Dly Capital Jrnl (Salem, OR) 5 Apr. 1/6: The temptation is pretty strong for Old Man Grouch to [...] blow a fuse to the following effect: ‘Great unmerciful Scott we’re being bled white...’.
1939		Howsley Argot: Dict. of Und. Sl.
1947		Walter Brown ‘Sloppy Drunk’ 🎵 The ambulance came to get you and the doctor had to strap you down / Somebody said you blew a fuse, now the talk’s all over town.
1951		Dinah Washington ‘New Blowtop Blues’ 🎵 I’m a gal who blew a fuse, I’ve got those blowtop blues.
1959		W. Brown Teen-Age Mafia 70: He was burning up, ready to blow a fuse.
1963		in T.I. Rubin Sweet Daddy 86: This joint stinks [...] Still, not going to blow a fuse over it.
1967		Time 1 Sept. 47: Sandy is so hyped up about the Boston opening Sept. 4 that some fear she may blow all the fuses.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 53: To blow up is to lose one’s temper, as is to blow a fuse or a gasket and to blow [one’s] top or cork or stack or wig.
2000		(con. 1940s–60s) Décharné Straight from the Fridge Dad.

2. of a plan, to go disastrously wrong.

1954		Wodehouse Jeeves and the Feudal Spirit 145: It was quite conceivable that the programme might blow a fuse.
1960		Wodehouse Jeeves in the Offing 169: My manly spirit definitely blew a fuse.