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.

• enPR: blŭd, IPA: /blʌd/
• (Northern England) enPR: blo͝od, IPA: /blʊd/

blood

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.

   Some insects are known for consuming blood.

   • 1650, Thomas Browne, “Of the Cameleon”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] 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.

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.)
   • 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

3. (historical) One of the four humours in the human body.
4. The endometrial lining as it is shed in menstruation; menstrual fluid.
5. (medicine, countable) A blood test or blood sample.
6. 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; [...]

7. (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.

8. 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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act IV, scene iii]:

     When thou perceive his blood inclined to mirth

9. (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[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC ↗, [Act III, scene iii]:

     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 […]

10. A blood horse, one of good pedigree.
11. (figurative) Bloodshed.

    They came looking for blood.

12. Alternative case form of Blood
13. (especially AAVE) A friend or acquaintance, especially one who is black and male.
14. (UK, MLE, slang) Alternative form of blud
    • 2017, Joseph Barnes Phillips, Big Foot ...and Tiny Little Heartstrings:

      Blood I swear she just gave man extra chicken? Two fat pieces of chicken.

• (familial relationship) background, descent, heritage, stock

• bleed
• bloody mary
• bless
• blessing

see blood/translations

blood (bloods, present participle blooding; simple past and past participle blooded)

1. (transitive) To cause something to be covered with blood; to bloody.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A[ndrew] 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 […]

2. (medicine, historical) To let blood (from); to bleed.
   • 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.

3. (transitive) To initiate into warfare or a blood sport, traditionally by smearing with the blood of the first kill witnessed.

• German: anbluten
• Portuguese: ensanguentar
• Spanish: ensangrentar

blood (plural bloods)

1. A member of the Los Angeles gang The Bloods, who typically wear red and have an intense and bitter rivalry with the Crips.
   • 2009, DaShaun "Jiwe" Morris, War of the Bloods in My Veins:

     My union with the neighborhood kids teaches me Bloods don't say or write words starting with c's. This is how Bloods disrespect Crips. They replace all c's with k's or b's and cross out all remaining c's in the word.

1. Surname.