Skip to definition.
Get the FREE one-click dictionary software for Windows.


Noun: bloodletting  'blúd`leting
  1. Formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humours of medieval medicine)
     
  2. Indiscriminate slaughter
    "ten days after the bloodletting Hitler gave the action its name"
    - bloodbath, bloodshed, battue

Derived forms: bloodlettings

Type of: butchery, carnage, mass murder, massacre, medical aid, medical care, slaughter

Encyclopedia: Bloodletting

Nearest

blood-filled
bloodguilt
bloodguilty
bloodhound
bloodily
bloodiness
bloodleaf
bloodless
Bloodless Revolution
bloodlessly
bloodletting
bloodline
bloodlust
bloodmobile
blood-oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging
blood-red
blood-related
bloodroot
bloodshed
bloodshot
bloodstain