# bloody
## English
### Alternative forms

* bloudy (obsolete)
* bl**dy

### Etymology 1

From Middle English blody, blodi, from Old English blōdiġ, blōdeġ (“bloody”), from Proto-West Germanic *blōdag, from Proto-Germanic *blōþagaz (“bloody”), equivalent to blood +‎ -y. Cognate with Dutch bloedig (“bloody”), German blutig (“bloody”), Danish blodig (“bloody”), Swedish blodig (“bloody”), Icelandic blóðugur (“bloody”). See Wikipedia for thoughts on sense evolution.

#### Pronunciation

* (British, US) IPA: /ˈblʌ.diː/
* (General Australian) IPA: /ˈbɫɐ.diː/
* (India) IPA: /ˈblɜ.ɖiː/
* Rhymes: -ʌdi
* Audio (US):(file)
* Audio (UK):(file)
* Audio (General Australian):(file)

#### Adjective

bloody (comparative bloodier, superlative bloodiest)
* Covered in blood.
    Synonyms: bleeding, bloodied, gory, sanguinolent
    All that remained of his right hand after the accident was a bloody stump.
** c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “A Midsommer Nights Dreame”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall, / Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
** 1599 (first performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Iulius Cæsar”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i], page 119:O Antony! Begge not your death of vs: / Though now we muſt appeare bloody and cruell, / As by our hands, and this our preſent Acte / You ſee we do: Yet ſee you but our hands, / And this, the bleeding buſineſſe they haue done:
* Characterised by bloodshed.
    There have been bloody battles between the two tribes.
** c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 336:Some bloody paſſion ſhakes your very Frame:
** 1846 [1845], Frederick Douglass, chapter I, in Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave, Boston: Anti-Slavery Office, page 8:I had therefore been, until now, out of the way of the bloody scenes that often occurred on the plantation.
** 2007, Lucinda Mallows, Lucy Mallows, Slovakia: The Bradt Travel Guide, page 169:The story of Elizabeth Bathory is one of the bloodiest in history.
* (informal, British, Ireland, Commonwealth, Hawaii, mildly vulgar) Used as an intensifier.
    Traffic in central London was a bloody mess this morning.
** 1916 May 31, David Beatty during the Battle of Jutland:
    There seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today.
** 1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 519:Try to keep those bloody women's bloody heads on their bloody shoulders by somehow helping them make this whole mad impossible scheme actually work.
** 2003, Mark Haddon, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, page 64:You are not to go asking anyone about who killed that bloody dog.
** 2007, James MacFarlane, Avenge My Kin, Book 2: A Time of Testing, page 498
    “You bloody fool, I could′ve stabbed you in the heart,” David said in mock anger, and then smiled widely.
** 2024 January 24, Dyan Perry talks to Nick Brodrick, “The industry has given me so much”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 45:With 109km of fixed infrastructure, of which only 50% is utilised, Perry's message is simple: "put more bloody trains on it!"
* (dated) Badly behaved; unpleasant; beastly.
** 1945, Evelyn Waugh, chapter 5, in Brideshead Revisited […], 3rd edition, London: Chapman & Hall, →OCLC, book 1 (Et in Arcadia Ego), pages 118–119:Come to apologize to Charles. I was bloody to him and he's my guest. He's my guest and my only friend and I was bloody to him.

##### Usage notes

As an intensifier in Commonwealth usage, bloody is sometimes considered a swear word, and it was formerly considered one of the strongest profanities in British English (approximately between 1750 and 1920). Its offensiveness decreased significantly over the 20th century, and a 2021 survey by OFCOM found most members of the British public considered it mild and "unlikely to cause concern in most circumstances".

##### Synonyms

* (intensifier): bally, blasted, bleeding (chiefly Cockney), blinking, blooming, damn, damned, dang, darned, doggone, flaming, freaking, fricking, frigging, fucking, goddam / goddamn, goddamned, godforsaken (rare), rotten, wretched
* See also Thesaurus:damned

##### Derived terms

* bebloody
* bloodily
* bloodiness
* bloody back
* Bloody Caesar
* Bloody Code
* bloody dock
* bloody 'ell
* bloody flux
* bloody-handed
* bloody-handedly
* bloody-handedness
* bloody heck
* bloody hell
* bloodyish
* bloody mary, Bloody Mary
* bloody-minded
* bloody-mindedly
* bloody-mindedness
* bloody Nora
* bloody nose
* bloody-nosed beetle
* bloody noun
* bloody oath
* bloody show
* bloody sweat
* bloody up
* bloody-warrior
* bloody warrior
* bloody William
* call a spade a bloody shovel
* give someone a bloody nose
* mucobloody
* my bloody oath
* nonbloody
* raw-head and bloody-bones
* scream bloody murder
* unbloody
* wave the bloody shirt

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Adverb

bloody (comparative more bloody, superlative most bloody)
* (informal, Australia, British, India, Ireland, Newfoundland, New Zealand, South Africa, mildly vulgar) Used to express anger, annoyance, or shock, or for emphasis.
    Synonyms: bloody well, bally, blasted, bleeding, blooming
** 1912 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Pygmalion”, in Androcles and the Lion, Overruled, Pygmalion, London: Constable and Company, published 1916, →OCLC, Act III, page 153:Walk! Not bloody likely. [Sensation]. I am going in a taxi. [She goes out].
** 1994, Robert Jordan, Lord of Chaos, page 109:"Dice are no bloody good," David said.

##### Translations
#### Verb

bloody (third-person singular simple present bloodies, present participle bloodying, simple past and past participle bloodied)
* (transitive) To stain with blood.
    The butcher often bloodied his apron in the course of his work.
* (transitive) To draw blood from (one's opponent) in a fight.
* (transitive) To demonstrably harm (the cause of an opponent). (Can we add an example for this sense?)

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

Clipping of bloody mary

#### Noun

bloody (plural bloodies)
* (informal) bloody mary

### Anagrams

* old boy

### References

* ↑ “Public Attitudes Towards Offensive Language on TV and Radio”, in OFCOM‎, 2021