blood

noun

• 1the red liquid that circulates in the arteries and veins of humans and other vertebrate animals, carrying oxygen to and carbon dioxide from the tissues of the body:drops of blood
• an internal bodily fluid, not necessarily red, that performs a similar function in invertebrates.

Blood consists of a mildly alkaline aqueous fluid (plasma) containing red cells (erythrocytes), white cells (leukocytes), and platelets; it is red when oxygenated and purple when deoxygenated. Red blood cells carry the protein hemoglobin, which gives blood its color and can combine with oxygen, thus enabling the blood to carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues. White blood cells protect the body against the invasion of foreign agents (e.g., bacteria). Platelets and other factors present in plasma are concerned in the clotting of blood, preventing hemorrhage. In medieval science and medicine, blood was regarded as one of the four bodily humors, believed to be associated with a confident and optimistic temperament

• 2violence involving bloodshed:a commando operation full of blood and danger

• 3temperament or disposition, especially when passionate:a ritual that fires up his blood

• 4 [with adjective] family background; descent or lineage:she must have Irish blood in her
• [in combination] a person of specified descent:a mixed-blood
• informal a fellow black person.

• 5 (usually Blood) a member of a Los Angeles street gang.

• 6 dated, chiefly British a fashionable and dashing young man:a group of young bloods

verb

• initiate (someone) in a particular activity:clubs are too slow in blooding young players
• (in hunting) smear the face of (a novice) with the blood of the kill.
• (in hunting) give (a hound) a first taste of blood.