Green’s Dictionary of Slang

blowing-up n.¹

a scolding.

1844		‘Jonathan Slick’ High Life in N.Y. I 250: The ’pothecary raly felt as if he should bust, and he gin her a purty decent blowing up.
1846		D. Corcoran Picking from N.O. Picayune 121: I thought I could stand a blowing up pretty well.
1861		(con. 1840s–50s) H. Mayhew London Labour and London Poor I 45/2: I never get more than a blowing up. My parents is very fair to me.
1874		E.K. Wood Johnny Ludlow II 232: George Roper wants a good blowing-up, he do.
c.1895		F. Norris Vandover and the Brute (1914) 79: Oh, you ought to have heard the blowing up I gave my tailor!
1898		Boy’s Own Paper 10 Dec. 168: We shall probably have an awful blowing up to-morrow.
1905		‘Doss Chiderdoss’ ‘Off the Mark’ Sporting Times 22 Apr. 1/3: You’ve saved a blowing-up, I guess! / and you’ll own that you deserve it, for you’ve had an extra glass.
1916		P. Kyne Cappy Ricks 102: I’ll give him a blowing-up he’ll remember.