Example:
— I need you back in 4 instead of 12. I got half of Korea coming in at noon.
— No, no, no, I'm on a 12-hour blow. Call Tedesco.
What does a 12-hour blow mean?
Learn English – I’m on a 12-hour blow — meaning of “blow”
american-englishmeaningslang
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Best Answer
Blow here is a slang usage (originally, U.S.) meaning a break (from work, particularly, physical work).
Compare to take a breather = a pause, as for breath, and blow = cocaine or other "recreational" drugs, and stop for a puff = have a cigarette break.
I confess that after several minutes checking online, I can't be sure which of the above represents the origin of the usage, but it puts me in mind of a whale surfacing for breath (through its blowhole), so I'd go with the blow = breather route. Nevertheless, I'm sure many people say "I'm going for a blow", when they're thinking in terms of having a "smoke break", rather than a chance to catch their breath.
Personally, I find OP's cited usage slightly "odd", because to me a "blow" is a relatively short break. But I'm a BrE speaker - perhaps either AmE speakers are okay with using it for longer periods of being "off duty", or in the specific context, the speaker thinks of 12 hours as a relatively short period of free time (perhaps he's a soldier, offshore oil-rigger, etc., who's normally "at work" for weeks at a time, punctuated by periods of several days' leave of absence).