[f. prec.]
1. trans. To cause blood to flow from; esp. in Surg., to ‘let blood,’ to BLEED (which is more common).
1633. P. Fletcher, Purple Isl., VII. lxx. His horse he bloods, & pricks a trembling vein.
1746. W. Thompson, R. N. Advoc. (1757), 41. They [slaughtered oxen] are neither sufficiently blooded, nor dressed in any tolerable manner.
1780. Johnson, Lett., II. ccxliv. 158. Yesterday I fasted and was blooded, and to day took physick and dined.
1840. Dickens, Barn. Rudge, lxxxii. Being promptly blooded … he rallied.
1857. Livingstone, Trav., xii. 223. They had scruples about eating an animal not blooded in their own way.
b. transf. To let sap flow from (trees). Obs.
1623. Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, Washingtons, Pref. 50. Nov. 22 To Dunkley for … one daie blouding trees £00 01s.
2. To wet or smear with blood. ? Obs. or dial.
c. 1593. Spenser, Sonn., xx. Let none ever say, That ye were blooded in a yeelded pray.
1691. Shadwell, Scowrers, IV. i. 359. She has scratched and blooded me all over.
1700. Dryden, Meleager & Atalanta, Fables, 113 (J.).
| And scarce secure, reach out their Spears afar, | |
| And blood their Points, to prove their Partnership of War. |
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, VII. xii. Having blooded his waistcoat.
1862. Borrow, Wild Wales, II. 31. One of the hardest battles which ever blooded English soil.
3. Venery. To give a hound its first taste, or sight and smell of the blood of the game it is to hunt. Also fig.
1781. P. Beckford, Hunting (1802), 97. Here they are blooded to fox.
1848. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 513. It was most important … that his troops should be blooded.
† 4. To raise the blood of, i.e., to make eager for combat or bloodshed, to exasperate; esp. soldiers at the beginning of a fight. Obs.
1622. Bacon, Hen. VII., 79 (J.). The auxiliarie Forces of French and English were much blouded one against another.
1677. Govt. Venice, 61. The consideration of a Sequin … for every Turks head they bring in has … blooded them against those Infidels.
