Etimology
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.
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.
A family relationship due to birth, such as that between siblings; contrasted with relationships due to marriage or adoption. (See blood relative, blood relation.)
(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.
The sap or juice which flows in or from plants.
(poetic) The juice of anything, especially if red.
Temper of mind; disposition; mood
(obsolete) A lively, showy man; a rake; a dandy.
A blood horse, one of good pedigree.
(figurative) Bloodshed.
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.”)
Examples
Some insects are known for consuming blood.
It cannot be denied it [the chameleon] is a very abſtemious animall, and ſuch as by reaſon of its frigidity, paucity of bloud, and latitancy in the winter will long ſubſist without a viſible ſuſtentation.
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.
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 friend of our own blood
to share the blood of Saxon royalty
When I got Bilbo to their surgery the vet took Bilbo in for tests. […] His bloods showed nothing wrong at all.
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."
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, [...]
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; [...]
He washed […] his clothes in the blood of grapes.
When thou perceive his blood inclined to mirth
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 […]
Seest thou not […] how giddily 'a turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five and thirty?
[…] it was the morning costume of a dandy or blood of those days […]
They came looking for blood.
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!"
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.
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.
Blood I swear she just gave man extra chicken? Two fat pieces of chicken.
Related words
synonyms
(familial relationship) background, descent, heritage, stock
hyponyms
lifeblood
related terms
bleed
bloody mary
bless
blessing
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.
(medicine, historical) To let blood (from); to bleed.
(transitive) To initiate into warfare or a blood sport, traditionally by smearing with the blood of the first kill witnessed.
Examples
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 sign of life in him, they again let him fall, Adderly damning him for having blooded his wastecoat […]
On St Stephens day the Farrier came constantly and blouded all the Cart-horses.
Mr Western, who imputed these symptoms in his daughter to her fall, advised her to be presently blooded by way of prevention.
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.