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Blood

Definition: Blood

Blood

Noun

1. The fluid (red in vertebrates) that is pumped by the heart; "blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the tissues and carries waste products away"; "the ancients believed that blood was the seat of the emotions".

2. The descendants of one individual; "his entire lineage has been warriors".

3. The shedding of blood resulting in murder; "he avenged the blood of his kinsmen".

4. Temperament or disposition; "a person of hot blood".

5. A dissolute man in fashionable society.

6. People viewed as members of a group; "we need more young blood in this organization".

Verb

1. Smear with blood, as in a hunting initiation rite, where the face of a person is smeared with the blood of the kill.

Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
 

Date "blood" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1010. (references)

 

Specialty Definition: Blood

DomainDefinition

Bible

Blood (1.) As food, prohibited in Gen. 9:4, where the use of animal food is first allowed. Comp. Deut. 12:23; Lev. 3:17; 7:26; 17:10-14. The injunction to abstain from blood is renewed in the decree of the council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:29). It has been held by some, and we think correctly, that this law of prohibition was only ceremonial and temporary; while others regard it as still binding on all. Blood was eaten by the Israelites after the battle of Gilboa (1 Sam. 14:32-34). (2.) The blood of sacrifices was caught by the priest in a basin, and then sprinkled seven times on the altar; that of the passover on the doorposts and lintels of the houses (Ex. 12; Lev. 4:5-7; 16:14-19). At the giving of the law (Ex. 24:8) the blood of the sacrifices was sprinkled on the people as well as on the altar, and thus the people were consecrated to God, or entered into covenant with him, hence the blood of the covenant (Matt. 26:28; Heb. 9:19, 20; 10:29; 13:20). (3.) Human blood. The murderer was to be punished (Gen. 9:5). The blood of the murdered "crieth for vengeance" (Gen. 4:10). The "avenger of blood" was the nearest relative of the murdered, and he was required to avenge his death (Num. 35:24, 27). No satisfaction could be made for the guilt of murder (Num. 35:31). (4.) Blood used metaphorically to denote race (Acts 17:26), and as a symbol of slaughter (Isa. 34:3). To "wash the feet in blood" means to gain a great victory (Ps. 58:10). Wine, from its red colour, is called "the blood of the grape" (Gen. 49:11). Blood and water issued from our Saviour's side when it was pierced by the Roman soldier (John 19:34). This has led pathologists to the conclusion that the proper cause of Christ's death was rupture of the heart. (Comp. Ps. 69:20.). Source: Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary.

Dream Interpretation

Blood-stained garments, indicate enemies who seek to tear down a successful career that is opening up before you.
The dreamer should beware of strange friendships.
To see blood flowing from a wound, physical ailments and worry. Bad business caused from disastrous dealings with foreign combines.
To see blood on your hands, immediate bad luck, if not careful of your person and your own affairs. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted ....

Literature

Blood A buck, an aristocratic rowdy. A term taken from blood horses.
"A blood or dandy about town."- Thackeray: Vanity Fair, chap. x. p. 49.
Blood Family descent.
And hath made of one blood all nations of men."- Acts xvii. 26.
Blood thicker than water. Relationship has a claim which is generally acknowledged. It is better to seek kindness from a kinsman than from a stranger. Water soon evaporates and leaves no mark behind; not so blood. So the interest we take in a stranger is thinner and more evanescent than that which we take in a blood relation.
"Weel! blude's thicker than water. She's welcome to the cheeses and the hams just the same."- Sir W. Scott: Guy Mannering.
A Prince of the Blood. One of the Royal Family.
Bad blood. Anger, quarrels; as, It stirs up bad blood. It provokes to ill-feeling and contention.
Blue blood. (See under Blue.)
Young blood. Fresh members; as, "To bring young blood into the concern."
In cold blood. Deliberately; not in the excitement of passion or of battle.
It makes one's blood boil. It provokes indignation and anger.
It runs in the blood. It is inherited or exists in the family race.
"It runs in the blood of our family."- Sheridan: The Rivals, iv. 2.
My own flesh and blood. My own children, brothers, sisters, or other near kindred.
Laws written in blood. Demades said that the laws of Draco were written in blood, because every offence was punished by death.
The field of blood. Aceldama (Acts i. 19), the piece of ground purchased with the blood-money of our Saviour, and set apart for the burial of strangers.
The field of the battle of Cannæ, where Hannibal defeated the Romans, B.C. 216.
Blood of our Saviour. An order of knighthood in Mantua; so called because their special office was to guard "the drops of the Saviour's blood" preserved in St. Andrew's church, Mantua.
Blood and iron policy- i.e. war policy. No explanation needed. Source: Brewer's Dictionary.

Slang in 1811

BLOOD. A riotous disorderly fellow. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Specialty Definition: Blood

(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)

Blood is a liquid found in all higher animals whose main function is to supply the tissues with nutrients and oxygen and to remove waste products. Medical terms related to blood often begin in hemo- or hemato- from the Greek word for "blood".

Human blood

Human blood is a liquid tissue; its major function is to transport oxygen necessary to life throughout the body. It also supplies the tissues with nutrients, removes waste products, and contains various components of the immune system defending the body against infection. Several hormones also travel in the blood.

Adult humans have roughly 60 millilitres of blood per kilogram of body weight. This normally amounts to about 4-5 litres (roughly a gallon) of blood in an adult.

Human blood is red, ranging from bright red when oxygenated to dark red when not. It owes its colour to hemoglobin, a respiratory protein containing iron in the form of heme, to which oxygen binds.

Blood moves in blood vessels and is circulated by the heart, a muscular pump. It passes to the lungs to be oxygenated, and then is circulated throughout the body by the arteries. It diffuses its oxygen by passing through tiny blood vessels called capillaries. It then returns to the heart through the veins. See circulatory system for a more detailed description of this circulation.

Blood also transports metabolic waste products, drugs and other foreign chemicals to the liver to be degraded and to the kidney to be excreted in urine.

Composition

Blood is composed of several kinds of corpuscles; these formed elements of the blood constitute about 45% of whole blood. The other 55% is blood plasma, a yellowish fluid that is the blood's liquid medium.

The corpuscles are:

Blood plasma is essentially an aqueous solution of Together, plasma and corpuscles form a non-Newtonian fluid whose flow properties are uniquely adapted to the architecture of the blood vessels.

Health

Several health problems can involve blood.

Wounds can cause major blood loss. The thrombocytes cause the blood to coagulate, blocking relatively minor wounds, but larger ones must be repaired at speed to prevent exsanguination. Damage to the internal organs can cause severe internal bleeding, or hemorrhage.

Hemophilia is a genetic illness that causes a dysfunction in the clotting mechanism. This can allow even minor wounds to spill so much blood that the patient's life can be endangered.

Leukaemia (more often called leukemia) is a group of cancers of the blood-forming tissues.

Major blood loss, whether traumatic or not (e.g. during surgery), as well as certain blood diseases like anemia and thalassemia, can require blood transfusion. Several countries have blood banks to fill the demand for transfusable blood. A person receiving a blood transfusion must have a blood type compatible with that of the donor.

Blood is an important vector of infection. One well-known example of a blood-borne illness is AIDS, whose virus, HIV, is transmitted through contact between blood and the blood, semen, or bodily secretions of an infected person. Owing to blood-borne infections, bloodstained objects are treated as a biohazard.

Blood pressure is an important diagnostic tool.

Mythology

Due to its importance to life, blood is associated with a number of beliefs. One of the most basic is the use of blood as a symbol for family relationships; to be "related by blood" is to be related by ancestry or descendance, rather than marriage.

Christians believe that the Eucharist wine either is or represents the blood of Christ shed for their salvation.

Vampires are fictional beings thought to cheat death by drinking the blood of the living.

In the medieval theory of the four bodily humours, blood was associated with fire and with a merry and gluttonous (sanguine) personality.

Blood of non-human animals

In insects, the blood (more properly called hemolymph) is not involved in the transport of oxygen. (Openings called tracheae allow oxygen from the air to diffuse directly to the tissues). Insect blood moves nutrients to the tissues and removes waste products.

In other animals, the main function of blood is the transport of oxygen from the lungs or gills to the tissues. In some small invertebrates, oxygen is simply dissolved in the plasma. All other animals use respiratory proteins to increase the oxygen carrying capacity. Hemoglobin is the most efficient respiratory protein found in nature. Hemocyanin (blue) contains copper and is used in crustaceans. Sea squirts, among others marine life, use a vanadium chromagen (bright green, blue, or orange) for its respiratory pigment.

In many invertebrates, these oxygen-carrying proteins are freely soluble in the blood; in vertebrates they are contained in specialized red blood cells, allowing for a higher concentration of respiratory pigments without increasing viscosity.

Topics in blood, to be filled out

Biology

Cultural and historic aspects

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Abbreviations & Acronyms: Blood

The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted.
EntrySourceExpressionField
BL TEnglishBlood TypeN/A

Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

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Synonyms: Blood

Synonyms: ancestry (n), blood line (n), bloodline (n), bloodshed (n), descent (n), gore (n), line (n), line of descent (n), lineage (n), origin (n), parentage (n), pedigree (n), profligate (n), rake (n), rip (n), roue (n), stock (n). (additional references)
Synonym by domain: bloods (medicine).

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Synonyms within Context: Blood

ContextSynonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).

Consanguinity

Noun: consanguinity, relationship, kindred, blood; parentage; (paternity); filiation, affiliation; lineage, agnation, connection, alliance; family connection, family tie; ties of blood; nepotism.

Fluidity

Fluid, inelastic fluid; liquid, liquor; lymph, humor, juice, sap, serum, blood, serosity, gravy, rheum, ichor, sanies; chyle.

Fop

Noun: fop, fine gentleman; swell; dandy, dandiprat; exquisite, coxcomb, beau, macaroni, blade, blood, buck, man about town, fast man; fribble, milliner; Jemmy Jessamy, carpet knight; masher, dude.

Killing

Noun: killing. Verb: homicide, manslaughter, murder, assassination, trucidation, iccusion; effusion of blood; blood, blood shed; gore, slaughter, carnage, butchery; battue.

Nobility

Noun: nobility, rank, condition, distinction, optimacy, blood, pur sang, birth, high descent, order; quality, gentility; blue blood of Castile; ancien regime.

Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

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Crosswords: Blood

English words defined with "blood": ABO blood group system, Arterial blood, arterial blood gases, artificial bloodblood agar, blood bank, Blood baptism, blood blister, Blood brother, blood brotherhood, blood clot, blood clotting, blood coagulation, blood count, Blood crystal, blood cyst, blood disease, blood disorder, blood donor, blood dyscrasia, blood extravasation, blood fluke, blood group, Blood heat, Blood horse, blood kinship, blood meal, blood plasma, blood platelet, Blood poisoning, blood pressure, blood profile, Blood pudding, Blood relation, blood relative, blood sausage, Blood serum, blood test, blood transfusion, blood type, blood typing, blood vessel, Blue bloodCold blood, complete blood count, Corruption of blooddifferential blood count, Dragon's bloodFlesh and bloodhigh blood pressurein cold blood, Inheritable bloodmenstrual bloodPSA blood testred blood cell, Red blood corpuscles, Rh-negative blood type, Rh-positive blood typeshed bloodTo let bloodvenous bloodwhite blood cell, white blood corpuscle, White blood corpuscles, Whole blood, Worthiest of blood. (references)
Specialty definitions using "blood": Avenger of Bloodblood albumin glue, blood alcohol test, Blood Bactericidal Activity, Blood Banks, Blood Cell Count, Blood Circulation Time, Blood Coagulation Disorders, Blood Coagulation Factor Inhibitors, Blood Coagulation Factors, Blood Component Removal, Blood Component Transfusion, blood doping, BLOOD FOR BLOOD, blood forming organs, Blood Gas Analysis, Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring, Blood Grouping and Crossmatching, Blood Groups, Blood Loss, Surgical, BLOOD MONEY, Blood Patch, Epidural, Blood Physiology, Blood Platelets, Blood Preservation, Blood Pressure Determination, Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory, Blood Pressure Monitors, Blood Products, Blood Protein Electrophoresis, Blood Proteins, blood relative clause, Blood Sedimentation, Blood Specimen Collection, Blood Stains, Blood Stone, Blood Substitutes, BLOOD TESTER, FOWL, blood urea, Blood Vessel Prosthesis, Blood Vessel Prosthesis Implantation, Blood Vessels, Blood Viscosity, Blood Volume, Blood Volume DeterminationCALENDAR-CONTROL CLERK, BLOOD BANK, constriction of blood vesselsdiastolic blood pressureExchange Transfusion, Whole BloodFasting Blood Glucose Test, Fetal BloodMan of Blood, Man of Blood and Iron, Mean blood pressure, meningeal blood vesselOccult Blood, ORDER-CONTROL CLERK, BLOOD BANKperipheral blood, peripheral blood lymphocyte therapy, placental blood transplantation, Postprandial Blood GlucoseSystolic blood pressureumbilical cord blood, umbilical cord blood transplantationWhole Blood Coagulation Time, whole human blood. (references)
Etymologies containing "blood": uraemia. (references)

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Modern Usage: Blood

DomainUsage

Screenplays

You said you were waiting for me. What were you going to do? Kill me, drink my blood, all that stuff (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles; writing credit: Anne Rice)

Tell me, would you be likely to sue me if I was to beat you right now? I mean, beat you so bad you piss blood and couldn't walk for a month (The Sweet Hereafter; writing credit: Atom Egoyan)

This is a true story of how friendships run deeper than blood. This is my story of the only three friends in my life that have truly mattered (Sleepers; writing credit: Barry Levinson)

Helen's a flesh and blood woman and you're never there (True Lies; writing credit: Claude Zidi; Simon Michaël)

A red sun rises, blood has been spilled this night (The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; writing credit: Frances Walsh)

Lyrics

My red blood runs true blue (Every Heartbeat; performing artist: Amy Grant)

As long as anyone with hot blood can (Uptown Girl; performing artist: Billy Joel)

Ain't nobody drawing wine from this blood (HUMAN TOUCH; performing artist: Bruce Springsteen)

Til you can feel her in your blood (Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?; performing artist: Bryan Adams)

But his blood runs through (Leader Of The Band; performing artist: Dan Fogelberg)

Clever

Blood flows down one leg and up the other. (references; author: unknown)

Patient has left white blood cells at another hospital. (references; author: unknown)

Soul-winning and missions is the life blood of the church. (references; author: unknown)

Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes and caterpillars. (references; author: unknown)

Sleeping on the job: They told me at the blood bank that this might happen. (references; author: unknown)

Tongue Twisters

A big bug bit a bold bald bear, and the bold bald bear bled blood badly. (references; author: unknown)

Black bug's blood. (references; author: unknown)

Blue bug's blood. (references; author: unknown)

Good blood, bad blood. (references; author: unknown)

Movie/TV Titles

Blood Money (2003)

Theatre of Blood (1973)

Blood Avenger (1973)

Blue Blood (1973)

The Colour of Blood (1973)

Song Titles

And When I Die (performing artist: Sweat and Tears Blood)

Spinning Wheel (performing artist: Sweat and Tears Blood)

You’ve Made Me So Very Happy (performing artist: Sweat and Tears Blood)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Commercial Usage: Blood

DomainTitle

References

  • The 2002 Official Patient's Sourcebook on High Blood Pressure (reference)

  • The 2000 Import and Export Market for Meat, Meat Offals and Blood Sausages in France (reference)

  • The 2002 World Forecasts of Meat, Meat Offals and Blood Sausages Export Supplies (reference)

  • The 2003 World Forecasts of Meat, Meat Offals and Blood Sausages Export Supplies (reference)

  • The World Market for Meat, Meat Offals and Blood Sausages: A 2003 Global Trade Perspective (reference)

    (more reference examples)

  

Books

  • Blood and Gold (Vampire Chronicles) (reference)

  • Blood of the Prophets: Brigham Young and the Massacre at Mountain Meadows (reference)

  • Blood of Victory: A Novel (reference)

  • Blood Orchid: A Holly Barker Novel (reference)

  • Blood Type A: Food, Beverage and Supplement Lists from Eat Right for Your Type (reference)

    (more book examples)

  

Periodicals

  

Theater & Movies

  

Music

  

High Tech

  

Consumer Goods

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Image Slideshow: Blood

Photos:
Blood

More pictures...

Illustrations:
Blood

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Computer Images:
Blood

More pictures...

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Photo Album: Blood

ThumbnailDescription & CreditThumbnailDescription & Credit

Six-step sequence of the death of a cancer cell. A cancer cell has migrated through the holes of a matrix coated membrane from the top to the bottom, simulating natural migration of a invading cancer cell between, and sometimes through, the vascular endothelium. Notice the spikes or pseudopodia that are characteristic of an invading cancer cell (1). A buffy coat containing red blood cells, lymphocytes and macrophages is added to the bottom of the membrane. A group of macrophages identify the cancer cell as foreign matter and start to stick to the cancer cell, which still has its spikes (2). Macrophages begin to fuse with, and inject its toxins into, the cancer cell. The cell starts rounding up and loses its spikes (3). As the macrophage cell becomes smooth (4). The cancer cell appears lumpy in the last stage before it dies. These lumps are actually the macrophages fused within the cancer cell (5). The cancer cell then loses its morphology, shrinks up and dies (6). Photo magnification: 1: x12,000; 2: x4,000; 3: x8,000; 4: x26,000; 5: x56,000; 6: x14,000. Credit: Susan Arnold (photographer).

Small, reddish/brownish papule, often with telangiectatic blood vessels. May appear transluscent, and when it is, described as "pearly" in color. May have a central depression with rolled borders. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist.

A blocked flea, i.e. dark spots in stomach, is unable to ingest its blood meal because of a mass of bacteria within the proventriculus, preventing passage of food from the esophagus to the stomach. Credit: CDC.

Blood smear showing Babesia rings in erythrocytes. Protozoon, parasite. Credit: CDC.

Lieutenant Cindy McFee having blood drawn as part of medical experiment. Credit: Paths Less Taken - NOAA at the Ends of the Earth.

They're the Royal Canadian Mounties of the immune system-the heroes who show up in the nick of time-and they take on all bacterial invaders, be they salmonella, listeria, pasteurella, or E. coli. They're infection-fighting white blood cells called heterophils, and poultry immunologist Michael Kogut has found a way to make them do his bidding to protect young poultry. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Keith Weller..

If we decide to donate blood, most of us would like to control when we donate it-and to whom. So mosquitoes are an outdoor nuisance to be avoided, as are biting flies, ticks, and chiggers. We ward all of them off with deet, a strong repellant that ARS discovered 40 years ago. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer..

Proliferative retinopathy, an advanced form of diabetic retinopathy, occurs when abnormal new blood vessels and scar tissue form on the surface of the retina. Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.

In background retinopathy, a slight deterioration in the small blood vessels of the retina, portions of the vessels may swell and leak fluid into the surrounding retinal tissue. Credit: National Eye Institute, National Institutes of Health.

Diagram of the polymerase chain reaction test shows how to emplify HIV DNA sequences as a way to diagnose HIV infection in blood samples.

Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

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Digital Photo Gallery: Blood
 

"Blood Red Sky 6" by Simon Cataudo
Commentary: "Final image from series."
"Bloody Tissue" by Anthony Tai
Commentary: "Picture taken when i wiped some blood off my finger. ."

Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers.

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Familiar Quotations: Blood

AuthorQuotation

Abraham Lincoln

Military glory --the attractive rainbow that rises in showers of blood.

Charles Kingsley

Young blood must have its course, lad, and every dog its day.

Denis Diderot

The blood of Jesus Christ can cover a multitude of sins, it seems to me.

Edmund Burke

A conscientious man would be cautious how he dealt in blood.

Hosea Ballou

Exaggeration is a blood relation to falsehood and nearly as blamable.

Lord Alfred Tennyson

By blood a king, in heart a clown.

Publius Cornelius Tacitus

Seek to make a person blush for their guilt rather than shed their blood.

Thomas Hood

Oh, God! that bread should be so dear! And flesh and blood so cheap!

William Shakespeare

Yet who would have thought the old man to have had so much blood in him?

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Historic Usage: Blood

AuthorDateQuotation

Magna Carta

1215

Heirs shall be married without disparagement, yet so that before the marriage takes place the nearest in blood to that heir shall have notice. (reference)

John Locke

1690

This I am sure, whoever, either ruler or subject, by force goes about to invade the rights of either prince or people, and lays the foundation for overturning the constitution and frame of any just government, is highly guilty of the greatest crime, I think, a man is capable of, being to answer for all those mischiefs of blood, rapine, and desolation, which the breaking to pieces of governments bring on a country. (Second Treatise of Government)

US Constitution

1791

Clause 2: The Congress shall have Power to declare the Punishment of Treason, but no Attainder of Treason shall work Corruption of Blood, or Forfeiture except during the Life of the Person attainted. (reference)

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Use in Literature: Blood

TitleAuthorQuote

Emma

Austen, Jane

She brought no name, no blood, no alliance

Scarlet Letter

Hawthorne, Nathaniel

The trying nature of his position drove the blood from his cheek, and made his lips tremulous

Les Miserables

Hugo, Victor

It was a sickening smile, for the corners of her mouth were stained with blood, and a dark cavity revealed itself there

Cymon and Iphigenia

John Dryden

When beauty fires the blood, how love exalts the mind

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man

Joyce, James

He felt that he was hardly of the one blood with them but stood to them rather in the mystical kinship of fosterage, fosterchild and fosterbrother

King Richard III

Shakespeare, William

Ay, and much better blood than his or thine

Grapes of Wrath

Steinbeck, John

Little droplets of blood began to ooze from the wound

Walden

Thoreau, Henry David

We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones

Antony and Cleopatra

William Shakespeare

My salad days, when I was green in judgement, cold in blood.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Non-Fiction Usage: Blood

SubjectTopicQuote

Health

Blood Vessel Changes. (references)

Blood urea nitrogen (BUN). (references)

Control your blood pressure. (references)

Business

Many pharmacies also offer checks for anemia, allergies, blood glucose, and blood pressure. (references)

Poland also imports antitoxins, vaccines, human and animal blood prepared for therapeutic use, and contraceptives. (references)

Market leaders in blood gas analysis instrumentation and reagents are Chiron, Radiometer, and Nova. Electrolyte market leaders include Nova, Chiron, and Beckmen Coulter. (references)

Children

Zimbabwe

In January the High Court sentenced Naison Ndlovu to death for killing a 3-year-old girl in 1999 and draining her blood into a bottle for ritual purposes. (references)

Civil Liberties

Saint Lucia

On April 19, the priest died as a result of blood clots, which may have been an existing condition prior to the attack. (references)

China

Government restrictions on the press and the free flow of information, however, prevented accurate reporting on the spread of HIV/AIDS and the role of blood collection procedures in the spread of the disease in rural areas. (references)

Economic History

Slovak Rep

The pending privatization of a state-owned blood and infusion products manufacturer provides investment opportunities. (references)

South Africa

In 1838, Dingane was defeated and deported by the Voortrekkers (people of the Great Trek) at the battle of Blood River. (references)

Spain

Spain is particularly deficient in human blood plasma, and imports of antisera and blood fractions are expected to continue growing. (references)

Human Rights

Cuba

At the time, he was spitting blood because of a nodule on his lung. (references)

Nicaragua

Azucena Baltodano took her brother home, but he continued to vomit blood. (references)

Albania

Under the Kanun, only adult males are acceptable targets for blood feuds, but women and children often were killed or injured in the attacks. (references)

Minorities

Togo

Many citizens believe that Nigerian Ibos kill young women, drain their blood, and steal their sex organs to perform voodoo to accumulate wealth, health, or protection. (references)

Political Economy

Albania

Vigilante action, mostly related to traditional blood feuds, resulted in many killings. (references)

ITALY

Import regulations for products containing meat and/or blood products, particularly animal and pet food, have become more stringent in response to concerns over transmission of Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). (references)

Trade

Brazil

Such products may include: used products in general, products that enjoy import tariff reductions, imports that do not involve payment from importer to the exporter -- e.g., samples, donations, temporary admission, psychotherapeutic drugs, products for human or veterinary research; weapons and related products, radioactive products and rare earth metal compounds, crude oil, oil derivatives or other petroleum derivatives, anti-hemophilic serum, medications with plasma and human blood, products that may be harmful to the environment -- e.g., CFC, mailing machines, stamp selling machines, airplanes, etc. (references)

Travel

Qatar

Prior to undergoing surgery, a resident expatriate patient is requested to donate blood. (references)

Ecuador

Travelers to Quito may require some time to adjust to the altitude (close to 10,000 feet), which can adversely affect blood pressure, digestion and energy level. (references)

Women

Somalia

Similarly according to the Shari'a and Somali tradition of blood compensation, those found guilty in the death of a woman must pay only half as much to the aggrieved family as they would if the victim were a man. (references)

Worker Rights

Ghana

For example, a friend often is called a "cousin," and an older woman an "aunt," even if there is no blood relation. (references)

Lexicography

Devil's Dictionary

SYCOPHANT, n. One who approaches Greatness on his belly so that he may not be commanded to turn and be kicked. He is sometimes an editor. As the lean leech, its victim found, is pleased To fix itself upon a part diseased Till, its black hide distended with bad blood, It drops to die of surfeit in the mud, So the base sycophant with joy descries His neighbor's weak spot and his mouth applies, Gorges and prospers like the leech, although, Unlike that reptile, he will not let go. Gelasma, if it paid you to devote Your talent to the service of a goat, Showing by forceful logic that its beard Is more than Aaron's fit to be revered; If to the task of honoring its smell Profit had prompted you, and love as well, The world would benefit at last by you And wealthy malefactors weep anew -- Your favor for a moment's space denied And to the nobler object turned aside. Is't not enough that thrifty millionaires Who loot in freight and spoliate in fares, Or, cursed with consciences that bid them fly To safer villainies of darker dye, Forswearing robbery and fain, instead, To steal (they call it "cornering") our bread May see you groveling their boots to lick And begging for the favor of a kick? Still must you follow to the bitter end Your sycophantic disposition's trend, And in your eagerness to please the rich Hunt hungry sinners to their final ditch? In Morgan's praise you smite the sounding wire, And sing hosannas to great Havemeyher! What's Satan done that him you should eschew? He too is reeking rich -- deducting you.

Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

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Spoken Usage: Blood

SpeakerPhrase(s)

Dennis Miller

As a matter of fact, I don't get on until my blood is coursing with enough thorazine to drop an epileptic rhino.

Mary Tyler Moore

What happens is that the system builds many inferior blood vessels in the eye to take the place of the vessels that are dying. And those blood vessels are not up to the task. And they bleed. They hemorrhage and they cover the eye inside with blood.

Mattie Stepanek

I'm feeling good. But I still have blood coming out of my trachea. And that's going to be a problem. So I'm going to go back into the hospital tomorrow morning.

Nancy Grace

Well, as you know, I'm clearly not a New Yorker. But long story short, I don't care what the man's driving. I care about the girl's blood on the clothes that he was taking to the cleaner the weekend of her disappearance.

Robert Novak

Mr. Minister, the mayor of Jerusalem, Mr. Olmert, was quoted this week as saying that Yasser Arafat lusts for Jewish blood. If that's true, it's very difficult to have any kind of negotiations with him.

Rush Limbaugh

Yet while the Daschles and Robert Byrds of the world look for political advantage in the blood of our soldiers, the real world goes on.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Speeches: Blood

SpeakerTermPhrase(s)

James Madison

1809-1817Torrents of blood have been split in the old world, by vain attempts of the secular arm, to extinguish Religious discord, by proscribing all difference in Religious opinion.

John Quincy Adams

1825-1829The acquisition of them, made at the expense of the whole Union, not only in treasury but in blood, marks a right of property in them equally extensive.

Andrew Jackson

1829-1837A strict adherence to this policy has kept us aloof from the perplexing questions that now agitate the European world and have more than once deluged those countries with blood.

Woodrow Wilson

1913-1921We are of the blood of all the nations that are at war.

Warren G. Harding

1921-1923Ours is an organic law which had but one ambiguity, and we saw that effaced in a baptism of sacrifice and blood, with union maintained, the Nation supreme, and its concord inspiring.

Herbert C. Hoover

1929-1933Abroad, to west and east, are nations whose sons mingled their blood with the blood of our sons on the battlefields.

Lyndon B. Johnson

1963-1969Tonight, as so many nights before, the American Nation is asked to sacrifice the blood of its children and the fruits of its labor for the love of its freedom.

Ronald Reagan

1981-1989Again, let us remember that though our heritage is one of blood lines from every corner of the Earth, we are all Americans pledged to carry on this last, best hope of man on Earth.

George W. Bush

2001-2005America has never been united by blood or birth or soil.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

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Usage Frequency: Blood

"Blood" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 99.84% of the time. "Blood" is used about 10,138 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)
Parts of SpeechPercentUsage per
100 Million Words
Rank in English
Noun (singular)99.84%10,122923
Noun (proper)0.15%1590,616
                    Total100.00%10,138N/A

Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Name Usage Frequency: Blood

The following table summarizes the usage of "blood" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified.
NameUsage/GenderUsage per 100
million Persons
Rank in USA
BloodLast name2,0005,317
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.

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Derived & Related Names: Blood

The following table summarizes names derived from the word "blood".
 
NameGenderLanguageMeaning
AceldamaN/ABiblical

Field of blood

AdamahN/ABiblical

Of blood

DamascusN/ABiblical

A sack full of blood

EdomN/ABiblical

Of blood

Ephes-dammimN/ABiblical

Effusion of blood

PasdamminN/ABiblical

Portion or diminishing of blood

Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

 

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Expressions: Blood

Expressions using "blood": a man of flesh and blood abo blood group system an issue of blood animal blood arterial blood arterial blood gases artificial blood avenger of blood bad blood baptism of blood bathe in blood be after smb.'s blood be covered with blood be drenched in blood be in the blood blood agar blood agent blood albumin glue blood alcohol concentration blood alcohol test blood analysis blood and thunder Blood Bactericidal Activity blood bank Blood Banks Blood baptism blood bath blood berry blood blister blood bottle blood brain barrier blood brother blood brotherhood blood cell Blood Cell Count blood circulation Blood Circulation Time Blood clam blood clot Blood clots blood clotting Blood Coagulation Blood Coagulation Disorders Blood Coagulation Factor Inhibitors Blood Coagulation Factors Blood Coagulation Tests Blood Component Removal Blood Component Transfusion blood corpuscle blood count Blood crystal Blood crystallization blood cup blood cyst blood disease blood disorder blood donation blood donor blood doping blood dripping blood dyscrasia blood extravasation blood feud Blood Flow Velocity blood flower blood fluke blood for blood retaliation blood forming organs Blood Gas Analysis Blood Glucose Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring blood group Blood Group Incompatibility blood grouping Blood Grouping and Crossmatching Blood Groups blood heat blood horse blood hound blood kinship blood knot blood letting blood libel blood lily blood line blood lust blood meal blood mobil blood money blood orange Blood Physiology blood plaque blood plasma blood plate blood platelet Blood Platelet Disorders Blood Platelets Blood plum blood poisoning Blood Preservation blood pressure. Additional references.

Hyphenated Usage

Beginning with "blood": Blood-Air, Blood-Air Barrier, blood-alcohol, blood-and-buggery, blood-and-guts, blood-and-thunder, blood-and-thunder novel, blood-and-thunder story, blood-aqueous, Blood-Aqueous Barrier, blood-ball, blood-based, blood-bath, blood-bathed, blood-baths, blood-bead, blood-beads, blood-bespattered, blood-black, Blood-boltered, Blood-Borne, Blood-Borne Pathogens, blood-bought, blood-brain, blood-brain barrier, blood-bright, blood-brother, blood-brotherhood, blood-cell, blood-cells, blood-chilling, blood-cholesterol, blood-clotting, blood-colored, blood-coloured, blood-contacting, blood-cooling, blood-covered, blood-curdling, blood-dangle, blood-death, blood-debt, blood-derived, blood-dimmed, blood-donor, blood-drained, blood-drenched, blood-dripping, blood-drops, blood-factor, blood-fat, blood-feeders, blood-feud, blood-filled, blood-flecked, blood-flicker, blood-flow, blood-flower, blood-food, blood-forming, blood-frenzied, blood-gas, blood-glucose, blood-gorged, blood-greased, Blood-Group, blood-group, blood-group determination, blood-grouping, blood-groups, blood-guilt, blood-guiltiness, blood-guilty, blood-gushing, blood-heat, blood-hound, blood-house, blood-hued, blood-is-thicker-than-water, blood-kin, blood-lead, blood-letter, blood-letting, blood-lettings, blood-line, blood-lines, blood-loss, blood-lust, blood-mad, blood-maddened, blood-money, blood-mystical, blood-orange, blood-pink, blood-poisoning, blood-poisons, BLOOD-POOL, Blood-Pool, blood-pressure, blood-pressure-lowering, blood-pressures, blood-product, blood-products, blood-protein, blood-pump, blood-purifier, blood-raw, blood-red, blood-reddened, blood-related, blood-relation, blood-relationship, blood-relationships, blood-relatives, Blood-Retinal Barrier, blood-revenge, blood-rich, blood-right, blood-royal, blood-sachets, blood-sacrifices, blood-sample, blood-serum, blood-shapes, blood-sharing, blood-shed, blood-shedding, blood-shot, Blood-shotten, blood-slicked, blood-slippery, blood-smeared, blood-smell, blood-snow, blood-soaked, blood-sodden, blood-sopped, blood-sparing, blood-spattered, blood-spiced, blood-spitting, blood-splatter, blood-splattered, blood-spongy, blood-sport, blood-stage, blood-stain, blood-stained, blood-stains, blood-staunching, blood-stiffened, blood-stirring, blood-stone, blood-stream, blood-stroke, blood-sucker, blood-suckers, blood-sucking, blood-suckling, blood-sugar, blood-supply, blood-tatters, blood-test, blood-tested, blood-testing, Blood-Testis Barrier, blood-tests, blood-thinning, blood-thirsty, blood-ties, blood-tinged, blood-to-blood, blood-transfused, blood-tub, blood-twig, blood-type, blood-typing, blood-vessel, blood-vessels, blood-wallow, blood-warm, Blood-wedding, blood-weight, blood-worm, blood-worms.

Ending with "blood": flesh-and-blood, high-blood, life-blood.

Containing "blood": anti-blood-sports, dried-blood-red, rain-water-spume-blood-oil.

Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

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Frequency of Internet Keywords: Blood

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.
 
ExpressionFrequency
per Day
ExpressionFrequency
per Day

high blood pressure

3,772

blood brother

394

blood pressure

3,654

blood sugar level

363

blood

2,747

blood omen 2

342

low blood pressure

1,639

blood gang

333

blood type

1,436

bad blood

327

blood test

1,133

red blood cell

316

blood pressure monitor

1,002

blood omen

282

blood in urine

992

blood rayne

277

blood clots

849

blood disease

270

blood type diet

801

blood pressure medication

265

blood in stool

661

blood donation

253

low blood sugar

644

blood on the track

251

bad blood wwe

537

blood pressure reading

241

white blood cell

515

blood canadian services

216

blood crips

514