BLOODLETTING

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bloodletting mean? 

• BLOODLETTING (noun)
  The noun BLOODLETTING has 2 senses:

1. formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)

2. indiscriminate slaughter

  Familiarity information: BLOODLETTING used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BLOODLETTING (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("bloodletting" is a kind of...):

medical aid; medical care (professional treatment for illness or injury)

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

Dark Ages; Middle Ages (the period of history between classical antiquity and the Italian Renaissance)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bloodletting"):

phlebotomy; venesection (surgical incision into a vein; used to treat hemochromatosis)

cupping (a treatment in which evacuated cups are applied to the skin to draw blood through the surface)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Indiscriminate slaughter

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

battue; bloodbath; bloodletting; bloodshed

Context example:

a huge prison battue was ordered

Hypernyms ("bloodletting" is a kind of...):

butchery; carnage; mass murder; massacre; slaughter (the savage and excessive killing of many people)