See Also: Blood in the eye(health)
blood pH(medicine)
Blood pH(health)
blood-red(dictionary)
Blood(health)
blood(2)(dictionary)
blood(1)(dictionary)
blood(encyclopedia)
whole blood(medicine)
WHOLE BLOOD(law)

blood(1) (iou)



blood noun.
[Old English blod = Old Frisian, Old Saxon blod (Dutch bloed), Old High German bluot (German Blut), Old Norse bloe, Gothic bloT (Crimean Gothic plut), from Germanic, of unkn. origin.]
A complex fluid, red when oxygenated and containing various suspended cells, circulating in the arteries and veins of the higher animals; the corresponding fluid in other multicellular organisms. OE.
b. A liquid or juice resembling blood (always with conscious ref. to the primary sense). LME.
Shakespeare Timon of Athens Go, suck the subtle blood o' th' grape.
a. Blood that is shed, in theological writings esp. in sacrifice, as that of Christ; the taking of life. OE.
R. Hooker Either my blood or banishment shall sign it. Addison An Affront that nothing but Blood can expiate.
b. The guilt of bloodshed. OE.
C. V. Wedgwood The blood of Strafford lay heavy on his conscience because he had consented to his death in the knowledge that he was innocent.
c. A blood-and-thunder story. Freq. in penny blood. Usu. in pl. arch. L19.
Vital fluid; the vital principle; life. ME-M18.
a. The blood as the supposed seat of emotion; passion, temperament, mettle. ME.
Shakespeare Merchant of Venice The brain may devise laws for the blood, but a hot temper leaps o'er a cold decree.
b. The blood as the supposed seat of animal or sensual appetite; sexual desire. ME.
a. The blood as the vehicle of hereditary characteristics or relationship; consanguinity; parentage, lineage; family, race, nationality. ME.
Pope Your antient but ignoble blood Has crept thro' Scoundrels ever since the Flood. L. van der Post They had clear traces of Bushman blood. Proverb: Blood is thicker than water.
b. Persons of any specified blood or family collectively; kindred. ME.
Shakespeare King John Father, to arms!..Against the blood that thou hast married?
c. Good parentage or stock. LME.
R. W. Emerson The obstinate prejudice in favour of blood, which lies at the base of the feudal and monarchical fabrics of the old world.
d. One's offspring; a near relative. arch. LME.
Dryden Thou art my blood where Jonson has no part. Horace Walpole So many cousins, and uncles, and aunts and bloods.
e. A fellow black person. US Black English. M20.
A living being. Only in ME.
A disease in sheep or swine. E16-L18.
a. A rowdy, a roisterer; a dandy; a rake. Now arch. or Hist. M16.
b. A leader of fashion, esp. at a public school or university. slang. L19.
(Blood.) Pl. -s, same. A member of a N. American Indian people belonging to the Blackfoot confederacy. Pl. same. L18.
Phrases: bad blood ill feeling. blood and iron [translating German Blut und Eisen] military force as distinguished from diplomacy, esp. as associated with Bismarck (see BISMARCKIAN). blue blood: see BLUE adjective. CORRUPTION of blood. first blood the first shedding of blood (in Boxing or fig.). flesh and blood: see FLESH noun. freeze someone's blood: see FREEZE verb. fresh blood = new blood below. full-blood: see FULL adjective. get blood from a stone, get blood from a turnip, get blood out of a stone, get blood out of a turnip achieve the impossible, esp. obtain pity from the hard-hearted or money from the impecunious or avaricious. God's blood! an oath or forcible exclamation; abbreviation 'SBLOOD. half-blood: see HALF-. ill blood = bad blood above. in blood Hunting (of an animal) full of life, vigorous. in cold blood without passion, deliberately. in one's blood characteristic of one's family etc., fundamental in one's character. let (a person) blood (now arch. or Hist.) bleed (a person) as medical treatment, transf. shed the blood of, kill, (a person) (freq. in indirect pass. as be let blood). MIXED blood. new blood a new member or new members admitted to a family, society, etc. one's blood boils: see BOIL verb. one's blood is up one is in fighting mood. one's blood runs cold one is horrified. out for a person's blood determined to defeat him or her. out of blood Hunting (of an animal) lifeless, not vigorous. restore in blood, restore to blood Hist. re-admit (a person under sentence of 'corruption of blood') to forfeited privileges. seal one's testimony with blood: see TESTIMONY noun 3. shed the blood of: see SHED verb1 6. spit blood: see SPIT verb2. suck the blood of: see SUCK verb. sweat blood: see SWEAT verb 2b. taste blood fig. be stimulated by early success. the blood (royal) the royal lineage or family (of the blood, royal). young blood (a) arch. a young rowdy or dandy; (b) a young member of a party etc.
Comb.: blood-ally a white playing-marble marked with red spiral lines; blood-and-soil adjective (a) Hist. in Anglo-Saxon England, a fine for shedding blood paid to an alderman or king (cf. WERGELD); (b) gen. a penalty for murder; bloodwood (the red wood of) any of various trees, esp. certain Australian eucalypts; bloodworm a bright red worm or wormlike creature, esp. (a) a worm of the genus Arenicola or Tubifex; (b) the aquatic larva of a midge of the genus Chironomus; blood-wort a plant with red roots or leaves, esp. red-veined dock, Rumex sanguineus.
blooding noun a black pudding LME-L18.
bloodlike adjective resembling blood LME.