I. blood 1 S2 W1 /blʌd/ BrE AmE noun [uncountable]
[ Word Family: noun : ↑ blood , ↑ bleeding ; adjective : ↑ bloodless , bloody; verb : ↑ bleed ]
[ Language: Old English ; Origin: blod ]
1 . the red liquid that your heart pumps around your body:
Her body was found in a pool of blood.
Blood oozed from a cut on his forehead.
Blood tests proved he was not the father.
2 . (have) sb’s blood on your hands to have caused someone’s death:
dictators with blood on their hands
3 . in cold blood in a cruel and deliberate way:
Evans had been murdered in cold blood.
4 . make sb’s blood boil to make someone extremely angry:
The way they treat people makes my blood boil.
5 . make sb’s blood run cold to make someone feel extremely frightened
6 . like getting blood out of a stone almost impossible:
Getting the truth out of her is like getting blood out of a stone.
7 . blood is thicker than water used to say that family relationships are more important than any other kind
8 . be after sb’s blood to be angry enough to want to hurt someone
9 . sb’s blood is up British English someone is extremely angry about something and determined to do something about it:
They tried to stop me, but my blood was up.
10 . the family to which you belong from the time that you are born:
There’s Irish blood on his mother’s side.
11 . be/run in sb’s blood if an ability or tendency is in, or runs in, someone’s blood, it is natural to them and others in their family
12 . sweat blood to work extremely hard to achieve something:
Beth sweated blood over that article.
13 . blood, sweat, and tears extremely hard work
14 . new/fresh blood new members in a group or organization who bring new ideas and energy:
We need to bring in some new blood and fresh ideas.
15 . blood on the carpet a situation where people have a very strong disagreement, with the result that something serious happens, such as someone losing his or her job
16 . young blood old-fashioned a fashionable young man
17 . especially American English spoken a way of greeting a friend, used by young men
⇨ bad blood at ↑ bad 1 (27), ⇨ ↑ blue-blooded , ↑ red blood cell , ↑ white blood cell , ⇨ your own flesh and blood at ↑ flesh 1 (6), ⇨ shed blood at ↑ shed 2 (5)
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COLLOCATIONS
■ verbs
▪ lose blood (=from a cut or wound)
He had lost a lot of blood and was very weak.
▪ give/donate blood (=provide blood from your body for the medical treatment of other people)
The Health Service is asking for more people to donate blood.
▪ draw blood (=make someone bleed)
He touched me with the knife and it drew blood.
▪ blood flows
A quick walk will get the blood in your legs flowing again.
▪ blood trickles (=moves slowly)
The blood was beginning to trickle down his leg.
▪ blood oozes (=comes out slowly)
Blood was oozing from her forehead.
▪ be covered in blood
His face was covered in blood.
▪ blood gushes/streams (=moves fast)
A man was lying in the street with blood gushing from his head.
▪ blood clots (=forms a mass and stops flowing)
The blood should clot and stop the wound from bleeding.
▪ be caked with blood (=covered with dry blood)
The cat's fur was caked with blood.
▪ be spattered/splattered with blood (=covered with small spots of blood)
Today the only sign of violence is the walls spattered with blood.
■ blood + NOUN
▪ blood pressure (=the force with which blood moves through your body)
High blood pressure increases the risk of a heart attack.
▪ somebody's blood type/group (=one of the different types of human blood)
What blood type are you?
▪ a blood cell
The red blood cells carry oxygen.
▪ a blood vessel (=a tube in your body through which blood flows)
the blood vessels that lead to the heart
▪ a blood clot (=a mass formed when blood dries or sticks together)
Blood clots in the legs are potentially fatal.
▪ the blood flow
Fat reduces the blood flow to the surface of the skin.
▪ the blood supply (=the blood that flows to a part of the body)
the blood supply to the brain
▪ a blood test (=a test done on your blood to see if you have a disease or another condition)
▪ a blood sample (=a small amount of blood taken from your body to test)
▪ a blood transfusion (=putting more blood in someone's body for medical reasons)
■ phrases
▪ a drop of blood
Police found tiny drops of blood in the apartment.
▪ loss of blood
She suffered a massive loss of blood.
▪ a pool of blood
A dark pool of blood was spreading from his head.
▪ a trickle of blood
A trickle of blood was coming from his nose.
II. blood 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
British English to give someone their first experience of an activity, especially a difficult or unpleasant one