☞ The blood consists of a liquid, the plasma, containing minute particles, the blood corpuscles. In the invertebrate animals it is usually nearly colorless, and contains only one kind of corpuscles; but in all vertebrates, except Amphioxus, it contains some colorless corpuscles, with many more which are red and give the blood its uniformly red color. See Corpuscle, Plasma. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Relationship by descent from a common ancestor; consanguinity; kinship. [ 1913 Webster ]

To share the blood of Saxon royalty. Sir W. Scott. [ 1913 Webster ]

A friend of our own blood. Waller. [ 1913 Webster ]

Half blood (Law), relationship through only one parent. --
Whole blood, relationship through both father and mother. In American Law, blood includes both half blood, and whole blood. Bouvier. Peters. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Descent; lineage; especially, honorable birth; the highest royal lineage. [ 1913 Webster ]

Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

I am a gentleman of blood and breeding. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Stock Breeding) Descent from parents of recognized breed; excellence or purity of breed. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In stock breeding half blood is descent showing one half only of pure breed. Blue blood, full blood, or warm blood, is the same as blood. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. The fleshy nature of man. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

6. The shedding of blood; the taking of life, murder; manslaughter; destruction. [ 1913 Webster ]

So wills the fierce, avenging sprite,
Till blood for blood atones. Hood. [ 1913 Webster ]

7. A bloodthirsty or murderous disposition. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

He was a thing of blood, whose every motion
Was timed with dying cries. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

8. Temper of mind; disposition; state of the passions; -- as if the blood were the seat of emotions. [ 1913 Webster ]

When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Often, in this sense, accompanied with bad, cold, warm, or other qualifying word. Thus, to commit an act in cold blood, is to do it deliberately, and without sudden passion; to do it in bad blood, is to do it in anger. Warm blood denotes a temper inflamed or irritated. To warm or heat the blood is to excite the passions. Qualified by up, excited feeling or passion is signified; as, my blood was up. [ 1913 Webster ]

9. A man of fire or spirit; a fiery spark; a gay, showy man; a rake. [ 1913 Webster ]

Seest thou not . . . how giddily 'a turns about all the hot bloods between fourteen and five and thirty? Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

It was the morning costume of a dandy or blood. Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

10. The juice of anything, especially if red. [ 1913 Webster ]

He washed . . . his clothes in the blood of grapes. Gen. xiix. 11. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Blood is often used as an adjective, and as the first part of self-explaining compound words; as, blood-bespotted, blood-bought, blood-curdling, blood-dyed, blood-red, blood-spilling, blood-stained, blood-warm, blood-won. [ 1913 Webster ]

Blood baptism (Eccl. Hist.), the martyrdom of those who had not been baptized. They were considered as baptized in blood, and this was regarded as a full substitute for literal baptism. --
Blood blister, a blister or bleb containing blood or bloody serum, usually caused by an injury. --
Blood brother, brother by blood or birth. --
Blood clam (Zool.), a bivalve mollusk of the genus Arca and allied genera, esp. Argina pexata of the American coast. So named from the color of its flesh. --
Blood corpuscle. See Corpuscle. --
Blood crystal (Physiol.), one of the crystals formed by the separation in a crystalline form of the hæmoglobin of the red blood corpuscles; hæmatocrystallin. All blood does not yield blood crystals. --
Blood heat, heat equal to the temperature of human blood, or about 981/2 ° Fahr. --
Blood horse, a horse whose blood or lineage is derived from the purest and most highly prized origin or stock. --
Blood money. See in the Vocabulary. --
Blood orange, an orange with dark red pulp. --
Blood poisoning (Med.), a morbid state of the blood caused by the introduction of poisonous or infective matters from without, or the absorption or retention of such as are produced in the body itself; toxæmia. --
Blood pudding, a pudding made of blood and other materials. --
Blood relation, one connected by blood or descent. --
Blood spavin. See under Spavin. --
Blood vessel. See in the Vocabulary. --
Blue blood, the blood of noble or aristocratic families, which, according to a Spanish prover , has in it a tinge of blue; -- hence, a member of an old and aristocratic family. --
Flesh and blood. (a) A blood relation, esp. a child. (b) Human nature. --
In blood (Hunting), in a state of perfect health and vigor. Shak. --
To let blood. See under Let. --
Prince of the blood, the son of a sovereign, or the issue of a royal family. The sons, brothers, and uncles of the sovereign are styled princes of the blood royal; and the daughters, sisters, and aunts are princesses of the blood royal. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To stain, smear or wet, with blood. [ Archaic ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Reach out their spears afar,
And blood their points. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To give (hounds or soldiers) a first taste or sight of blood, as in hunting or war. [ 1913 Webster ]

It was most important too that his troops should be blooded. Macaulay. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. To heat the blood of; to exasperate. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

The auxiliary forces of the French and English were much blooded one against another. Bacon. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. [ fig. ] Substantial losses by many people, as in a mass termination of employment or widespread financial loss; as, the sudden market drop created a bloodbath among overoptimistic investors. [ PJC ]

The blood-boltered Banquo smiles upon me. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Used also in composition in phrases indicating a particular condition or quality of blood; as, cold-blooded; warm-blooded. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Disposition to shed blood; bloodthirstiness. [ 1913 Webster ]

All that bloodiness and savage cruelty which was in our nature. Holland. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bloodless carcass of my Hector sold. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Not attended with shedding of blood, or slaughter; as, a bloodless victory. Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Without spirit or activity. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood ! Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

-- Blood"less*ly, adv. -- Blood"less*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Money obtained as the price, or at the cost, of another's life; -- said of a reward for supporting a capital charge, of money obtained for betraying a fugitive or for committing murder, or of money obtained from the sale of that which will destroy the purchaser. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ In England the name is given to the tormentil, once used as a remedy for dysentery. [ 1913 Webster ]

His eyes were bloodshot, . . . and his hair disheveled. Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. One who sheds blood; a cruel, bloodthirsty man; one guilty of bloodshed; a murderer. [ Obs. ] Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A hard and exacting master, landlord, or money lender; an extortioner. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. having the nature or habits of a parasite or leech; living off another; -- of plants or persons; as, a bloodsucking blackmailer; bloodsucking lawyers.
Syn. -- parasitic, parasitical, leechlike. [ WordNet 1.5 +PJC ]

Norfolk Island bloodwood is a euphorbiaceous tree (Baloghia lucida), from which the sap is collected for use as a plant. Various other trees have the name, chiefly on account of the color of the wood, as Gordonia Hæmatoxylon of Jamaica, and several species of Australian Eucalyptus; also the true logwood ( Hæmatoxylon campechianum). [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Smeared or stained with blood; as, bloody hands; a bloody handkerchief. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. Given, or tending, to the shedding of blood; having a cruel, savage disposition; murderous; cruel. [ 1913 Webster ]

Some bloody passion shakes your very frame. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. Attended with, or involving, bloodshed; sanguinary; esp., marked by great slaughter or cruelty; as, a bloody battle. [ 1913 Webster ]

5. Infamous; contemptible; -- variously used for mere emphasis or as a low epithet. [ Vulgar ] Thackeray. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Her.) A red hand, as in the arms of Ulster, which is now the distinguishing mark of a baronet of the United Kingdom. [ 1913 Webster ]