Green’s Dictionary of Slang

blooey! excl.

also blooee! blooie! bluey!

1. (orig. US) used to mimic the sound of an explosion.

[US]T.A. Dorgan in Zwilling TAD Lex. (1993) 18: [Picture of chicks emerging from their shells:] Blooey, blooey.
[US]R. Lardner ‘Horseshoes’ in Coll. Short Stories (1941) 262: Jack happened to meet it and — Blooie! Down the left foul line where he always hits!
[US]T.H. Kelly What Outfit, Buddy? 86: Bang! Bluey! Smash!
[US] in G. Legman Limerick (1953) 19: A young Juliet of St. Louis / On a balcony stood, acting screwy. / Her Romeo climbed, / But he wasn’t well timed, / And half-way up, off he went—blooey!
[US](con. 1917–18) C. MacArthur War Bugs 140: Then BLOOIE – The entire front blew up.
[US]L. Berg Prison Nurse (1964) 114: Blooie! the lid is off!
[US]D. Runyon ‘Too Much Pep’ in Runyon on Broadway (1954) 641: Out of this automobile comes a big blooey-blooey, with four guys letting go with sawed-off shotguns.
[US]M. Curtiss Letters Home (1944) 2 Dec. 123: When Blooie, before I could get on deck two depth charges went off in the stern.
[US]E. Hunter Blackboard Jungle 251: Is that how they fired people? Just a few visits from the Department Chairman and then blooie?
[US]J. Wambaugh Glitter Dome (1982) 63: ‘BLOOO-EEE!’ Herman III yelled.
[US]N. Proffitt Gardens of Stone (1985) 239: When BLOOEY! The same mortar round that got me, got him.

2. used to denote failure, collapse (see also go blooey ).

[US]Black Mask Aug. III 35: It takes time to get that on the phone, and when I do – blooey – Coe hasn’t been there.
[US]M. Levin Reporter 122: Aha! Blooey the story. What’s the diff. Nobody knows.

In phrases

go blooey (v.) (also go blooie, go blooy) [echoic]

to explode suddenly, to go wrong, to fail, to break down.

[US]Ade ‘The New Fable of the Aerial Performer’ in Ade’s Fables 208: The Market had gone Blooey. [...] The Whole List was on the Blinkety Fritz.
[US]Day Book (Chicago) 21 Oct. 17/1: He knows how things would all go blooie in a few days if I left.
[US]Ade Hand-made Fables 285: He had to find an Occupation or else go Blooey.
[US]R.J. Brown ‘Thirty Days on the Island’ in Argosy 3 Jan. 🌐 The boss [...] had visions of the whole case goin’ blooie.
[UK]Wodehouse Leave it to Psmith (1993) 510: Every time you get going nicely, in barges some alien influence and the Muse goes blooey.
[US]Dos Passos Manhattan Transfer 123: Look here kid, you’re goin blooy if you keep up like this.
[US]G. Milburn ‘Down in the Mohawk Valley’ in Hobo’s Hornbook 51: And then things all went blooey and they throwed me in the can.
[US]J.M. Cain Postman Always Rings Twice (1985) 192: When I start to figure, it all goes blooey.
[US]R.L. Bellem ‘Grappling Trilby’ in Popular Sports June 🌐 You get slammed for a touchdown [...] And blooie goes our hard-earned rep!
M. Shulman Feather Merchants 117: Careful you don’t get that dynamite too warm holding it. A little overheating and she’ll go blooie, just like that [W&F].
[US]Wentworth & Flexner DAS.
[US]J. Roe The Same Old Grind 19: ‘The machine just went blooey again’.
[US]D. Hecht Skull Session 243: Feel free to go blooie, if you must. I love a spectacle.
[US](con. 1964–8) J. Ellroy Cold Six Thousand 105: Pete and Boyd stole some dope. Things went blooey. The Boys got very mad.
[US]J. Ellroy Widespread Panic 213: His noxious news: last night’s trace went blooey.