1. [n]  the shedding of blood resulting in murder; "he avenged the blood of his kinsmen"
2. [n]  temperament or disposition; "a person of hot blood"
3. [n]  the fluid (red in vertebrates) that is pumped by the heart; "blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and carries waste products away"; "the ancients believed that blood was the seat of the emotions"
4. [n]  people viewed as members of a group; "we need more young blood in this organization"
5. [n]  the descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has been warriors"
6. [n]  a dissolute man in fashionable society
7. [v]  smear with blood, as in a hunting initiation rite, where the face of a person is smeared with the blood of the kill

1. \Blood\, n. [OE. blod, blood, AS. bl?d; akin to D. bloed,
   OHG. bluot, G. blut, Goth, bl??, Sw. & Dan. blod; prob. fr.
   the same root as E. blow to bloom. See {Blow} to bloom.]
   1. The fluid which circulates in the principal vascular
      system of animals, carrying nourishment to all parts of
      the body, and bringing away waste products to be excreted.
      See under {Arterial}.
   
   Note: The blood consists of a liquid, the plasma, containing
         minute particles, the blood corpuscles. In the
         invertebrate animals it is usually nearly colorless,
         and contains only one kind of corpuscles; but in all
         vertebrates, except Amphioxus, it contains some
         colorless corpuscles, with many more which are red and
         give the blood its uniformly red color. See
         {Corpuscle}, {Plasma}.
   
   2. Relationship by descent from a common ancestor;
      consanguinity; kinship.
   
            To share the blood of Saxon royalty.  --Sir W.
                                                  Scott.
   
            A friend of our own blood.            --Waller.
   
   {Half blood} (Law), relationship through only one parent.
   
   {Whole blood}, relationship through both father and mother.
      In American Law, blood includes both half blood, and whole
      blood. --Bouvier. --Peters.
   
   3. Descent; lineage; especially, honorable birth; the highest
      royal lineage.
   
            Give us a prince of blood, a son of Priam. --Shak.
   
            I am a gentleman of blood and breeding. --Shak.
   
   4. (Stock Breeding) Descent from parents of recognized breed;
      excellence or purity of breed.
   
   Note: In stock breeding half blood is descent showing one
         half only of pure breed. Blue blood, full blood, or
         warm blood, is the same as blood.
   
   5. The fleshy nature of man.
   
            Nor gives it satisfaction to our blood. --Shak.
   
   6. The shedding of blood; the taking of life, murder;
      manslaughter; destruction.
   
            So wills the fierce, avenging sprite, Till blood for
            blood atones.                         --Hood.
   
   7. A bloodthirsty or murderous disposition. [R.]
   
            He was a thing of blood, whose every motion Was
            timed with dying cries.               --Shak.
   
   8. Temper of mind; disposition; state of the passions; -- as
      if the blood were the seat of emotions.
   
            When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth.
                                                  --Shak.
   
   Note: Often, in this sense, accompanied with bad, cold, warm,
         or other qualifying word. Thus, to commit an act in
         cold blood, is to do it deliberately, and without
         sudden passion; to do it in bad blood, is to do it in
         anger. Warm blood denotes a temper inflamed or
         irritated. To warm or heat the blood is to excite the
         passions. Qualified by up, excited feeling or passion
         is signified; as, my blood was up.
   
   9. A man of fire or spirit; a fiery spark; a gay, showy man;
      a rake.
   
            Seest thou not . . . how giddily 'a turns about all
            the hot bloods between fourteen and five and thirty?
                                                  --Shak.
   
            It was the morning costume of a dandy or blood.
                                                  --Thackeray.
   
   10. The juice of anything, especially if red.
   
             He washed . . . his clothes in the blood of grapes.
                                                  --Gen. xiix.
                                                  11.
   
   Note: Blood is often used as an adjective, and as the first
         part of self-explaining compound words; as,
         blood-bespotted, blood-bought, blood-curdling,
         blood-dyed, blood-red, blood-spilling, blood-stained,
         blood-warm, blood-won.
   
   {Blood baptism} (Eccl. Hist.), the martyrdom of those who had
      not been baptized. They were considered as baptized in
      blood, and this was regarded as a full substitute for
      literal baptism.
   
   {Blood blister}, a blister or bleb containing blood or bloody
      serum, usually caused by an injury.
   
   {Blood brother}, brother by blood or birth.
   
   {Blood clam} (Zo["o]l.), a bivalve mollusk of the genus Arca
      and allied genera, esp. {Argina pexata} of the American
      coast. So named from the color of its flesh.
   
   {Blood corpuscle}. See {Corpuscle}.
   
   {Blood crystal} (Physiol.), one of the crystals formed by the
      separation in a crystalline form of the h[ae]moglobin of
      the red blood corpuscles; h[ae]matocrystallin. All blood
      does not yield blood crystals.
   
   {Blood heat}, heat equal to the temperature of human blood,
      or about 981/2 [deg] Fahr.
   
   {Blood horse}, a horse whose blood or lineage is derived from
      the purest and most highly prized origin or stock.
   
   {Blood money}. See in the Vocabulary.
   
   {Blood orange}, an orange with dark red pulp.
   
   {Blood poisoning} (Med.), a morbid state of the blood caused
      by the introduction of poisonous or infective matters from
      without, or the absorption or retention of such as are
      produced in the body itself; tox[ae]mia.
   
   {Blood pudding}, a pudding made of blood and other materials.
   
   
   {Blood relation}, one connected by blood or descent.
   
   {Blood spavin}. See under {Spavin}.
   
   {Blood vessel}. See in the Vocabulary.
   
   {Blue blood}, the blood of noble or aristocratic families,
      which, according to a Spanish prover, has in it a tinge of
      blue; -- hence, a member of an old and aristocratic
      family.
   
   {Flesh and blood}.
       (a) A blood relation, esp. a child.
       (b) Human nature.
   
   {In blood} (Hunting), in a state of perfect health and vigor.
      --Shak.
   
   {To let blood}. See under {Let}.
   
   {Prince of the blood}, the son of a sovereign, or the issue
      of a royal family. The sons, brothers, and uncles of the
      sovereign are styled princes of the blood royal; and the
      daughters, sisters, and aunts are princesses of the blood
      royal.
   
   

2. \Blood\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Blooded}; p. pr. & vb. n.
   {Blooding}.]
   1. To bleed. [Obs.] --Cowper.
   
   
   
   2. To stain, smear or wet, with blood. [Archaic]
   
            Reach out their spears afar, And blood their points.
                                                  --Dryden.
   
   3. To give (hounds or soldiers) a first taste or sight of
      blood, as in hunting or war.
   
            It was most important too that his troops should be
            blooded.                              --Macaulay.
   
   4. To heat the blood of; to exasperate. [Obs.]
   
            The auxiliary forces of the French and English were
            much blooded one against another.     --Bacon.
   
   

(1.) As food, prohibited in Gen. 9:4, where the use of animal food is first allowed. Comp. Deut. 12:23; Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14. The injunction to abstain from blood is renewed in the decree of the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:29). It has been held by some, and we think correctly, that this law of prohibition was only ceremonial and temporary; while others regard it as still binding on all. Blood was eaten by the Israelites after the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. 14:32-34).

(2.) The blood of sacrifices was caught by the priest in a basin, and then sprinkled seven times on the altar; that of the passover on the doorposts and lintels of the houses (Ex. 12; Lev. 4:5-7; 16:14-19). At the giving of the law (Ex. 24:8) the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the people as well as on the altar, and thus the people were consecrated to God, or entered into covenant with him, hence the blood of the covenant (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:19, 20; 10:29; 13:20).

(3.) Human blood. The murderer was to be punished (Gen. 9:5). The blood of the murdered "crieth for vengeance" (Gen. 4:10). The "avenger of blood" was the nearest relative of the murdered, and he was required to avenge his death (Num. 35:24, 27). No satisfaction could be made for the guilt of murder (Num. 35:31).

(4.) Blood used metaphorically to denote race (Acts 17:26), and as a symbol of slaughter (Isa. 34:3). To "wash the feet in blood" means to gain a great victory (Ps. 58:10). Wine, from its red colour, is called "the blood of the grape" (Gen. 49:11). Blood and water issued from our Saviour's side when it was pierced by the Roman soldier (John 19:34). This has led pathologists to the conclusion that the proper cause of Christ's death was rupture of the heart. (Comp. Ps. 69:20.)