▪ I. bleeding, vbl. n.
(ˈbliːdɪŋ)
[f. bleed + -ing1.]
1. a. The flowing or dropping of blood (from a wound, etc.); hæmorrhage.
| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 849 Thou shalt feele as well the blood of me As thou hast felt the bleeding of Tisbe. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cxxxvi. (1495) 693 Powder of drye roses staunchyth bledynge at the nose. 1617 Hieron Wks. II. 309 Bleeding of the person slaine, at the presence of the murtherer. 1828 Scott F.M. Perth (1860) Pref. 15 He..applied some lint to stop the bleeding. |
b. Of plants: The emission of sap (from a wound). Also
attrib., as in
bleeding-season.
| 1674 Grew Anat. Trunks. ii. i. §8 The Bleeding of Plants..properly enough expresses, The eruption of the Sap out of any Vessels. 1712 tr. Pomet's Hist. Drugs I. 161 The Bleeding of the Vine. 1882 Vines Sachs' Bot. 677 The phenomenon known as the ‘bleeding’ of wood cut in the winter. |
2. Drawing or ‘letting’ of blood. Also
attrib., as
bleeding-bowl (see
quot. 1916),
bleeding-knife.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 38 Bledynge, sanguinacio, fleobotomia. Ibid. 39 Bledynge yryn, fleobotomium. 1541 R. Copland Guydon's Quest. Chirurg. M j, What is bledyng or blode lettynge. 1670 Cotton Espernon iii. xii. 647 His Physician resolv'd upon a Bleeding. c 1783 W. Stark in Med. Commun. I. 383 Bleeding is the appropriated remedy for a cough. 1837 Hogg Ettr. Shep. Tales III. 35 The butcher came up with his bleeding-knife. 1911 C. J. Jackson Hist. Eng. Plate I. i. ix. 264 Surgeon's bleeding-bowl, with pierced handle. 1916 Connoisseur Dec. 229/2 The so-called Bleeding Bowl, or Cupping Dish... Such bowls were used by surgeons when bleeding their patients. |
| fig. 1796 Southey Lett. Spain & Port. 427 This bleeding is more dreadful, because the Holy Office is the bleeder. 1850 Alison Hist. Europe II. viii. §54 In the language of the times..a new bleeding was required for the state. |
3. The draining of liquid, gas, etc., through a cock, valve, or the like (see
bleed v. 14). Also
attrib.| 1889 [see bleed v. 14]. 1928 Daily Tel. 17 Jan. 5 Where turbine ‘bleeding’ is resorted to for feed heating. 1959 Engineering 2 Jan. 26/3 The bleeding of air from the compressor to cool the blades. Ibid. 27 Feb. 263/3 The hydraulic system is..provided with bleeding screws to allow the escape of air enclosures. |
4. a. Of a dye: see
bleed v. 2 b.
| 1893 [see bleed v. 2 b]. 1959 Which? Oct. 129/2 The washed samples [of carpet] were then examined for any changes in colour and in particular for any bleeding of colours in the patterned sample. |
b. The penetration of a coat of paint or the like by colour or other substance from an underlying surface.
| 1888 [see bleed v. 2 c]. 1926 Paint, Oil & Chem. Rev. 25 Nov. 14/1 Bleeding, a defect of pigments by which they slowly soak into or penetrate an overlying coat, or the dissolving of a pigment in the vehicle. 1951 R. Mayer Artist's Hand-Bk. ii. 91 An obstacle in the way of the adoption of coal tar colours of really superior permanence to light, is that most of them have the property of bleeding or striking through when used with oil or oily mediums. |
c. (See
quots.)
| 1914 H. P. Boulnois Gloss. Road Terms 14 Bleeding, the exudation of pitch or bitumen from the road surface or from the prepared material. 1954 Highway Engin. Terms (B.S.I.) 30 Bleeding, a road condition in which free binder exudes in liquid form from the surface of a bituminous..road in hot weather. Ibid. 36 Bleeding, the formation of a thin layer of water on the exposed surface of concrete during the finishing processes. |
▪ II. bleeding, ppl. a. [f. bleed + -ing2.] 1. a. Losing or emitting blood, or
transf. sap.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 118 Bledinde mon is grislich. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. v. xxii. (1495) 129 A bledynge wounde. 1703 Rowe Ulysses iv. i. 1706 That poor bleeding King. 1787 Winter Syst. Husb. 45 Thistles..cut close to the ground, are destroyed by scattering soaper's ashes over the bleeding stumps. |
b. Running or suffused with blood.
| c 1305 Leg. Rood (1871) 133 Bounden . in bledyng bondes. 1595 Shakes. John ii. i. 304 Whose sonnes lye scattered on the bleeding ground. |
2. fig. a. Full of anguish from suffering, deep pity, or compassion.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. vii. 38 These bleeding words she gan to say. 1597 Hooker Eccl. Pol. v. xlii. §2 With bleeding hearts. 1628 Feltham Resolves i. lxi. (1647) 189 Calamities that challenge a bleeding eye. 1687 N. N. Old Popery, Compassionate and Bleeding Thoughts. 1713 Guardian No. 31 (1756) I. 134 All those good-natured offices that could have been expected from the most bleeding pity. |
b. metaphor. Obs.| 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 153 Experience for me many bulwarkes builded Of proofs new bleeding. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. v. 387 Cruelty..of which they every day received fresh and bleeding evidence. |
3. fig. and
transf. Said of nations devastated by war or the like, etc. Also, as in
bleed 5 b.
| 1668 Dryden Even. Love iv. i, This is the Folly of a bleeding Gamester. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. I. v. 537 The relief of bleeding and miserable Ireland. 1689 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 503 The bleeding condition of Ireland. 1863 M. Howitt tr. F. Bremer's Greece I. i. 9 Greece herself, bleeding and exhausted after her efforts in the War of Liberation. |
4. quasi-adv. (
Cf. 2 b.)
| 1607 Shakes. Timon i. ii. 80 So they were bleeding new my Lord, there's no meet like 'em. |
5. Comb. bleeding heart, (
a) the popular name for several plants;
e.g. the Wallflower (
Cheiranthus Cheiri), the
Aristotelia peduncularis,
Colocasia esculenta of the Sandwich Islands,
Dicentra formosa, and a variety of Cherry (Miller); (
b)
fig. an excessively soft-hearted or sympathetic person (
colloq.); also
attrib.;
bleeding root = blood-root;
bleeding tooth, the shell of a gastropod mollusc,
Nerita peloronta, which has a red mark on the columella tooth.
| 1691 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (ed. 8) 171 Cherries... Bleeding Heart. 1803 [see heart n. 30]. 1825 Britton Beauties of Wilts. III. 371 Bleeding-heart, the wall-flower. 1887 Cent. Mag. July 325 The white-hearts (related to the bleeding-hearts of the gardens, and absurdly called ‘Dutchman's breeches’). 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 130 The tender, mild Flowers of the bleeding-heart. 1958 J. Bingham Murder Plan Six iii. 74 You want to think straight, Victor. You want to control this bleeding-heart trouble of yours. 1960 ‘I. T. Ross’ Murder out of School vi. 68 A lot of bleeding-hearts got the idea they knew about everything. |
| 1714 Phil. Trans. XXIX. 64 The root call'd the Bleeding Root, curing the Jaundies. 1863 Prior Plant-n. 24. |
| 1881 Jrnl. Conchology III. 165, I did not find the ‘Bleeding Tooth’ very common at Key West. 1954 R. T. Abbott Amer. Seashells 128 Nerita peloronta Linné. Bleeding Tooth. Southeast Florida, Bermuda and the West Indies. |
6. A substitute for
bloody a. 10 (and
adv. 2).
low slang.
| 1858 Furnivall in Athenæum 24 July 118 Costermongers have lately substituted the participle ‘bleeding’ for the adjective [‘bloody’]. ‘My bleeding barrow’ is the latest phrase in vogue. 1876 Besant & Rice Son of Vulcan ii. xxiii, When he isn't up to one dodge he is up to another. You make no bleeding error. 1884 Sessions Paper 8 Jan. 325 If you don't bleeding well let me go. 1896 A. Morrison Child of Jago i. 4 This is a bleed'n' unsocial sort o' evenin' party. 1922 [see blimey int.]. 1967 Times 17 Nov. 8/4 Why don't you bleeding do something about it? Ibid., He wants to take bleeding care that light duty work is continuous. |