Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Stained with blood.
  • adjective Of, characteristic of, or containing blood.
  • adjective Accompanied by or giving rise to bloodshed.
  • adjective Bloodthirsty.
  • adjective Suggesting the color of blood; blood-red.
  • adjective Chiefly British Slang Used as an intensive.
  • adverb Chiefly British Slang Used as an intensive.
  • transitive verb To stain, spot, or color with or as if with blood.
  • transitive verb To make bleed, as by injuring or wounding.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of, of the nature of, or pertaining to blood; containing or composed of blood: as, a bloody stream; “bloody drops,”
  • Existing in the blood.
  • Stained with blood; exhibiting signs or traces of blood: as, a bloody knife.
  • Of the color of blood; blood-red.
  • Cruel; murderous; given to the shedding of blood, or having a cruel, savage disposition.
  • Attended with or committing bloodshed; marked by cruelty: as, a bloody battle.
  • Concerned with or portending bloodshed; sanguinary.
  • In low language: Excessive; atrocious; heinous: as, he's a bloody fool, or a bloody rascal.
  • Used as an intensive expletive, especially in negative expressions: as, there wasn't a bloody soul there.
  • Same as badge of Ulster. See badge.
  • Very; exceedingly; desperately: as, “bloody drunk,”
  • To stain with blood.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To stain with blood.
  • adjective Containing or resembling blood; of the nature of blood.
  • adjective Smeared or stained with blood.
  • adjective Given, or tending, to the shedding of blood; having a cruel, savage disposition; murderous; cruel.
  • adjective Attended with, or involving, bloodshed; sanguinary; esp., marked by great slaughter or cruelty.
  • adjective Vulgar Infamous; contemptible; -- variously used for mere emphasis or as a low epithet.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Covered in blood.
  • adjective Characterised by bloodshed.
  • adjective Australia, New Zealand, UK, colloquial, mildly vulgar, not comparable Used as an intensifier.
  • adverb Australia, New Zealand, UK, mildly vulgar Used to intensify what follows this adverb.
  • verb To draw blood from one's opponent in a fight.
  • verb To demonstrably harm the cause of an opponent.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective having or covered with or accompanied by blood
  • adjective informal intensifiers
  • verb cover with blood
  • adverb extremely

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English blōdiġ, from blōd + -iġ ("-y")

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Examples

Comments

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  • "Did you see that bloody chimneysweep near shove my eye out with his brush?"

    Joyce, Ulysses, 12

    January 13, 2007

  • aka: the great Australian adjective.

    July 17, 2009

  • "Bloody" has long been thought of as a profanity, falsely linked in the 1700s to "Christ's blood." It began as (and is becoming) a harmless intensive.

    September 12, 2011