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bloodbath

noun
/ˈblʌdˌbɑːθ/UK/ˈblʌdˌbæθ/US

Etymology

From blood + bath, the latter used referring to a metaphorical deluge. Compare West Frisian bloedbad (“bloodbath”), Dutch bloedbad (“bloodbath”), German Blutbad (“bloodbath”), Danish blodbad (“bloodbath”), Norwegian Bokmål blodbad (“bloodbath”), Swedish blodbad (“bloodbath”), Icelandic blóðbad (“bloodbath”).

  1. derived from *bʰeh₁-✻ — “to warm”
  2. inherited from *baþą✻ — “bath”
  3. inherited from *baþ✻
  4. inherited from bæþ
  5. inherited from bath
  6. compounded as bloodbath — “blood + bath”

Definitions

  1. Indiscriminate killing or slaughter

    Indiscriminate killing or slaughter; a massacre.

    • There lay the steed; here lay the man; Gude friends that day did twin: They leuch na a' to the feast that cam Whan the het bluid-bath was done.

  2. An aggressive or very violent contest or confrontation.

    • Although the Hampden Park blood bath of '94 caused Yale and Harvard to break off football relations for the next two years, they kept close watch on each other.

  3. An upset (as of a game with unexpected results, or a national presidential convention) or…

    An upset (as of a game with unexpected results, or a national presidential convention) or heavy defeat.

    • Robert Halfon, a senior Tory backbencher, warned that a general election now would be a “bloodbath” for his party.
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. A large financial loss or massive layoff brought about by negative economic conditions.

      • In an interview after the victory, Daley sought to assure Blacks that there would be no personnel bloodbath at City Hall.
      • The point is, Amodei is a salesman, and it’s in his interest to make his product appear inevitable and so powerful it’s scary. Axios framed Amodei’s economic prediction as a “white-collar bloodbath.”

    2. A bath taken in warm blood used as a restorative or medical treatment.

      • On Blood-Baths: An Historical Notice. By Dr. Hecker. According to a dark tradition which is incidentally mentioned by Pliny, the ancient kings of Egypt used to bathe in human blood when they were seized with leprosy.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for bloodbath. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA