blood

Alternative forms

• bloud (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English blood, from Old English blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, of uncertain origin. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Bloud, West Frisian bloed, Dutch bloed, German Blut, Danish, Swedish and Norwegian blod.

Pronunciation

• enPR: blŭd, IPA^(key): /blʌd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Audio (UK)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌd

Noun

blood (countable and uncountable, plural bloods)

1. 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.

   The blood flows into the menstrual cup.

   • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Or, Enquiries into Very Many Received Tenents, and Commonly Presumed Truths, London: Printed for Tho. Harper for Edvvard Dod, OCLC 838860010; Pseudodoxia Epidemica: Or, Enquiries into Very Many Received Tenents, and Commonly Presumed Truths. [...] Together with Some Marginall Observations, and a Table Alphabeticall at the End, book 3, 2nd corrected and much enlarged edition, London: Printed by A. Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath. Ekins, at the Gunne in Ivie Lane, 1650, OCLC 152706203, 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.

2. A family relationship due to birth, such as that between siblings; contrasted with relationships due to marriage or adoption (see blood relative, blood relation, by blood).
   • Edmund Waller (1606-1687)

     a friend of our own blood

   • Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

     to share the blood of Saxon royalty

3. (historical) One of the four humours in the human body.
4. (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.

5. 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; [...]

6. (poetic) The juice of anything, especially if red.
   • Bible, Genesis xiix. 11

     He washed […] his clothes in the blood of grapes.

7. (obsolete) Temper of mind; disposition; state of the passions.
   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     when you 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 […]

8. (obsolete) A lively, showy man; a rake; a dandy.
   • William Shakespeare (1564-1616)

     Seest thou not […] how giddily 'a turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five and thirty?

   • 1848, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair, Chapter 3:

     ... it was the morning costume of a dandy or blood of those days ....

9. Alternative letter-case form of Blood (member of a certain gang).

Verb

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

1. To cause something to be covered with blood; to bloody.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, London: A[ndrew] Millar, OCLC 928184292:

     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 […]

2. (medicine, historical) To let blood (from); to bleed.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 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.

3. To initiate into warfare or a blood sport.

Anagrams

• boldo

Etymology

You can help Wiktionary by providing a proper etymology.

Pronunciation

• Audio

  (file)

Adjective

blood (comparative bloder, superlative bloodst)

1. (archaic) not courageous
2. (archaic) timid

References

Etymology

From Old Saxon blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą.

Noun

blood n

1. blood

See also

• German Low German: Blood, Bloot

Etymology

From Old English blōd, from Proto-Germanic *blōþą, of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bloːd/

Noun

blood (plural bloods)

1. blood