Unbloody

a. [UN-¹ 7. So OE. unblódiʓ (once), = Du. onbloedig, G. unblutig, ON. úblóðigr, Da. ublodig, Sw. oblodig.]

  1.  Not attended with (much or any) bloodshed.

1544.  Betham, Precepts War, I. cxciv. I v. Nothynge is more profytable … then by vnbloudye battayle to wynne the mastrye.

1553.  Brende, Q. Curtius, iv. 47 b. There were slaine of the Percians and Arabies ten thousand, and the victorye was not vnblodye vnto the Macedones.

1607.  Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 88. The Spartanes … esteemed more of an vnbloudy then a bloudy victory.

1654.  R. Codrington, trans. Iustine, v. 82. They fell not in a sluggish or an unbloody war, but fought to the last man.

1670.  Milton, Hist. Eng., II. Wks. 1851, V. 64. Petilius Cerealis … had to doe with the populous Brigantes in many Battails, and som of those, not unbloodie.

1870.  Bryant, Iliad, XVII. II. 177. The strife was not unbloody, though of Greeks There perished fewer.

  2.  Not involving the shedding of blood; not characterized by bloodshed.

1548.  [see b].

1577.  Hanmer, Anc. Eccl. Hist. (1663), 201. The unbloody and spiritual Sacrifices of prayers.

1590.  Swinburne, Testaments, 67. Verie likelie it is to bee vrged with more violent arguments … then by the vnbloodie blowes of bare words.

1606.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. Magnif., 868. Here, many a Mars un-bloudy Combats fights.

1649.  Milton, Eikon., ix. Wks. 1851, III. 402. Those many … corporal inflictions wherwith his raign also before this Warr was not unbloodie.

1702.  Echard, Eccl. Hist. (1710), 26. Prohibiting the use of wine, and using only inanimate and unbloody sacrifices.

a. 1797.  H. Walpole, Mem. Geo. II. (1822), I. 324. By the character of the age that disposition is systematized into little mischiefs and unbloody treacheries.

1858.  Froude, Hist. Eng., III. 154/2, note. The cause of the unbloody termination of the crisis was more creditable to the rebel leaders.

1899.  Capt. A. T. Mahan, Lessons of War with Spain, etc. (1900), ii. 106. Blockade, however, is but one form of the unbloody pressure brought to bear upon an enemy by interruption of his commerce.

  b.  Theol. Used with reference to the eucharist, esp. in the phrase unbloody sacrifice.

1548.  Geste, Pr. Masse, C vi b. Theyr auouching … our synnes clerely to be clensed wyth theyr vnsufferable & vnbloudye sacryfyce of christ.

1559.  Bp. Scott, in Strype, Ann. Ref. (1709), I. App. x. 30. Manyfestly affirmynge Christe to be offered daylye after an unbloody manner.

1581.  J. Bell, Haddon’s Answ. Osor., 432. That unbloudy Sacrifice of the body and bloud of Christ, which is dayly exequuted by so many handes of sacrificing shavelinges.

1620.  Bp. Hall, Hon. Marr. Clergy, Conclusion. I leave my refuter … to the acting of his vnbloudie executions of the Sonne of God.

1651.  C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., I. 71. S. Clem. Apost. calleth it a reasonable, unbloudy, and Mysticall Sacrament.

1712.  P. Metcalfe, Life St. Winefride (1917), 23. Saint Beuno was preparing to offer the Unbloody Sacrifice of our Redemption.

1753.  Challoner, Cath. Chr. Instr., 81. In the Sacrifice of the Altar he [Christ] only dies mystically, and therefore this is an unbloody Sacrifice.

1833.  J. Waterworth, trans. Veron’s Rule Cath. Faith, 127. In this divine sacrifice … the same Christ is present and offered in an unbloody manner, who … offered himself in a bloody manner.

1860.  Pusey, Min. Proph., 595. To Malachi alone it was reserved to prophesy of the unbloody Sacrifice.

  3.  Not covered or smeared with blood. Unbloody grave, that of one who has not died by bloodshed.

a. 1590.  1st Pt. Contention, E 3. Although the kyte soare with unbloodie beake.

a. 1699.  J. Beaumont, Psyche, XVI. xciv. Prayers and Persuasions her Engins be, Prepared pure unbloody Bays to gain.

1733.  [see UNBRIBED].

1819.  Scott, Leg. Montrose, xiv. You might yet lay your head on an unbloody pillow to-night. Ibid. (1829), Anne of G., xx. As thou desirest to sleep in an unbloody grave, let me warn thee, that the secrets of this night shall remain with thee.

  † 4.  Having no blood; bloodless. Obs.^–1

1615.  Crooke, Body of Man, 258. All these kinds of generation are maimed and imperfect, and therfore the creatures so procreated, are called … vnbloodye and insectile creatures.

  5.  Not bloodthirsty; averse to bloodshed.

c. 1665.  Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1846), 339. His unbloody nature desiring to spare the rest of the delinquents.

1824.  Landor, Imag. Conv., I. 324. Such is the characteristic expression of this brave unbloody people.

  Hence Unbloodiness.

1851.  W. Anderson, The Mass, iv. 48. The unbloodiness of the Mass.