Wiktionary

bloody

See also: -bloody-

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology 1

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From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood +‎ -y. Cognate with Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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bloody (comparative bloodier, superlative bloodiest)

  1. Covered in blood.
    Synonyms: bleeding, bloodied, gory, sanguinolent
    All that remained of his right hand after the accident was a bloody stump.
  2. Characterised by bloodshed.
    There have been bloody battles between the two tribes.
  3. (informal, British, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, mildly vulgar) Used as an intensifier.
    Traffic in central London was a bloody mess this morning.
    • 1916 May 31, David Beatty during the Battle of Jutland:
      There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.
    • 1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 519:
      Try to keep those bloody women's bloody heads on their bloody shoulders by somehow helping them make this whole mad impossible scheme actually work.
    • 2003, Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, page 64:
      You are not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog.
    • 2007, James MacFarlane, Avenge My Kin, Book 2: A Time of Testing, page 498
      “You bloody fool, I could′ve stabbed you in the heart,” David said in mock anger, and then smiled widely.
    • 2024 January 24, Dyan Perry talks to Nick Brodrick, “The industry has given me so much”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 45:
      With 109km of fixed infrastructure, of which only 50% is utilised, Perry's message is simple: "put more bloody trains on it!"
  4. (dated) Badly behaved; unpleasant; beastly.
Usage notes
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As an intensifier in Commonwealth usage, bloody is sometimes considered a swear word, and it was formerly considered one of the strongest profanities in British English (approximately between 1750 and 1920). Its offensiveness decreased significantly over the 20th century, and a 2021 survey by OFCOM found most members of the British public considered it mild and "unlikely to cause concern in most circumstances".[1]

Synonyms
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Derived terms
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Translations
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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Adverb

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bloody (comparative more bloody, superlative most bloody)

  1. (informal, Australia, British, India, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, mildly vulgar) Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or for emphasis.
    Synonyms: bloody well, bally, blasted, bleeding, blooming
Translations
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Verb

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bloody (third-person singular simple present bloodies, present participle bloodying, simple past and past participle bloodied)

  1. (transitive) To stain with blood.
    The butcher often bloodied his apron in the course of his work.
  2. (transitive) To draw blood from (one's opponent) in a fight.
  3. (transitive) To demonstrably harm (the cause of an opponent). (Can we add an example for this sense?)
Translations
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Etymology 2

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Clipping of bloody mary

Noun

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bloody (plural bloodies)

  1. (informal) bloody mary

References

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  1. ^ “Public Attitudes Towards Offensive Language on TV and Radio”, in OFCOM‎[1], 2021

Anagrams

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