blood

See also: Blood and Blööd

English

Alternative forms

bloud (obsolete)
bloode (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-West Germanic *blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰel- ("to swell") + -ó- (thematic vowel) + -to (nominalizer), i.e. "that which bursts out". Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bloud, West Frisian bloed, Dutch bloed, German Blut, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian blod, Icelandic and Faroese blóð.

Pronunciation

enPR: blŭd, IPA^(key): /blʌd/
(Northern England) enPR: blo͝od, IPA^(key): /blʊd/
Audio (US) (file)
Audio (UK) (file)
Audio (file)
Rhymes: -ʌd

Noun

blood (countable and uncountable, plural bloods)

A vital liquid flowing in the bodies of many types of animals that usually conveys nutrients and oxygen. In vertebrates, it is colored red by hemoglobin, is conveyed by arteries and veins, is pumped by the heart and is usually generated in bone marrow.
Some insects are known for consuming blood.
- 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , 2nd edition, London: A Miller, for Edw Dod and Nath Ekins, , →OCLC, 3rd book, page 133:
  It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is (if not the moſt of any) a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter (about which time the obſervations are often made) will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.
- 1927, F. E. Penny, chapter 4, in Pulling the Strings:
  The case was that of a murder. It had an element of mystery about it, however, which was puzzling the authorities. A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff.
- 2013 June 1, “A better waterworks”, in The Economist‎, volume 407, number 8838, page 5 (Technology Quarterly):
  An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.
A family relationship due to birth, such as that between siblings; contrasted with relationships due to marriage or adoption. (See blood relative, blood relation.)
- 1690, Edmund Waller, The Maid's Tragedy Altered:
  a friend of our own blood
- 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. , volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC:
  to share the blood of Saxon royalty
(historical) One of the four humours in the human body.
(Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?) The endometrial lining as it is shed in menstruation; menstrual fluid.
(medicine, countable) A blood test or blood sample.
- 2016, Steve Jamieson, Bilbo the Lifeguard Dog:
  When I got Bilbo to their surgery the vet took Bilbo in for tests. […] His bloods showed nothing wrong at all.
The sap or juice which flows in or from plants.
- 1841, Benjamin Parsons, Anti-Bacchus‎, page 95:
  It is no tautology to call the blood of the grape red or purple, because the juice of that fruit was sometimes white and sometimes black or dark. The arterial blood of our bodies is red, but the venous is called "black blood."
- 1901, Levi Leslie Lamborn, American Carnation Culture, fourth edition, page 57:
  Disbudding is merely a species of pruning, and should be done as soon as the lateral buds begin to develop on the cane. It diverts the flow of the plant's blood from many buds into one or a few, thus increasing the size of the flower, [...]
- 1916, John Gordon Dorrance, The Story of the Forest, page 44:
  Look at a leaf. On it are many little raised lines which reach out to all parts of the leaf and back to the stem and twig. These are "veins," full of the tree's blood. It is white and looks very much like water; [...]
(poetic) The juice of anything, especially if red.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Genesis 49:11:
  He washed […] his clothes in the blood of grapes.
Temper of mind; disposition; mood
- c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
  When thou perceive his blood inclined to mirth
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
  There was some little undefinable coolness between old General Chattesworth and Devereux. He admired the young fellow, and he liked good blood in his corps, but somehow he was glad when he thought he was likely to go. When old Bligh, of the Magazine, commended the handsome young dog's good looks, the general would grow grave all at once […]
(obsolete) A lively, showy man; a rake; a dandy.
- 1598–1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “Much Adoe about Nothing”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :
  Seest thou not […] how giddily 'a turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five and thirty?
- 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in Vanity Fair , London: Bradbury and Evans , published 1848, →OCLC:
  […] it was the morning costume of a dandy or blood of those days […]
A blood horse, one of good pedigree.
(figurative) Bloodshed.
They came looking for blood.
- 1873, The Monthly Packet of Evening Readings for Members of the English Church, page 31:
  Under Henry III. Amboise ceased to be a slaughter-house, as in the preceding reign, but it remained a sort of state prison. It is related that Anne d'Este of Ferrara, wife of Duc de Guise, while assisting once at a series of executions out of the windows of the castle with Catherine de Medicis, suddenly overcome by the horror of the spectacle, turned away, exclaiming passionately, "Ah Madame! how all this blood calls out for blood! what vengeance is being prepared! May God have pity on your sons and on mine!"
- 2007, Christine Feehan, Deadly Game, Penguin, →ISBN, page 55:
  He watched out for the men in his unit, for the one woman who had saved them so many years ago when they were still raw teens out for blood and revenge on the world, and he watched out for anyone else they stumbled across in their lives that needed protection.
- 2010, Alison Futrell, Blood in the Arena: The Spectacle of Roman Power, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 169:
  The standard assessment suggests that as the munera became purely a spectacle, they became more murderous because the public wanted to see blood. That the people of Rome were able to indulge this degenerate desire was merely due to the degraded status of the professional gladiator.
Alternative letter-case form of Blood (“member of a certain gang”)
(especially African-American Vernacular) A friend or acquaintance, especially one who is black and male.
(UK, MLE, slang) Alternative form of blud (“Informal address to a male.”)
- 2017, Joseph Barnes Phillips, Big Foot ...and Tiny Little Heartstrings:
  Blood I swear she just gave man extra chicken? Two fat pieces of chicken.

Synonyms

(familial relationship) background, descent, heritage, stock

Hyponyms

lifeblood

Derived terms

Related terms

Descendants

→ Greek: μπλάντι (blánti)
Torres Strait Creole: blad

Translations

See blood/translations § Noun.

Verb

blood (third-person singular simple present bloods, present participle blooding, simple past and past participle blooded)

(transitive) To cause something to be covered with blood; to bloody.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC:
  The French gentleman and Mr Adderly, at the desire of their commanding officer, had raised up the body of Jones, but as they could perceive but little (if any) sign of life in him, they again let him fall, Adderly damning him for having blooded his wastecoat […]
(medicine, historical) To let blood (from); to bleed.
- 1687, John Aubrey, Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme, page 27:
  On S^t Stephens day the Farrier came constantly and blouded all the Cart-horses.
- 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society, published 1973, page 121:
  Mr Western, who imputed these symptoms in his daughter to her fall, advised her to be presently blooded by way of prevention.
- 1785, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 212:
  She had been blooded, he said, 12 times in this last fortnight, and had lost 75 ounces of blood, besides undergoing blistering,and other discipline.
(transitive) To initiate into warfare or a blood sport, traditionally by smearing with the blood of the first kill witnessed.