flesh and blood
1. Used as representing the material of which man's physical frame is composed; the body. in flesh and blood: in a bodily form, or in a living form. to take flesh and blood: to become incarnate.
| a 1340 Hampole Psalter xvii. 11 He maked his son to take fleisse and blode. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. ii. 153 Whanne hit hadde of þe [folde] flesch and blod ytake. 1509 Parl. Devylles lxxii, I..toke flesshe and blode a mayde within. 1588 Shakes. L.L.L. i. i. 186, I would see his own person in flesh and blood. 1874 Blackie Self-Cult. 39 A student ought to be..careful about..the sound condition of his flesh and blood. |
| fig. 1861 E. O'Curry Lect. MS. Materials 153 A skeleton, to be at some future time clothed with flesh and blood. |
b. Mankind; an individual man or men. Also predicatively
to be flesh and blood: to be human, have human feelings or weaknesses.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xvi. 17 Hit þe ne onwreah flæsc ne blod. 1601 Shakes. All's Well i. iii. 38 A wicked creature, as you and all flesh and blood are. 1636 Massinger Gt. Dk. Florence ii. iii, I am flesh and blood, and have affections Like other men. 1694 Congreve Double Dealer i. i, Maskwell is flesh and blood at best. 1832 Blackw. Mag. July 61/2 British flesh and blood were sacrificed to the theories of cold-blooded political economists. 1874 L. Stephen Hours in Library (1892) I. x. 346 Our grand⁓fathers were human beings..in Walpole's pages they are still living flesh and blood. |
c. Human nature with its emotions and infirmities.
| c 1450 tr. De Imitatione iii. xxx, My god, lete not flesshe and blode ouercome me. 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. i. ii. Imposture 484 Heer I conceive that flesh and bloud will brangle. 1681 Dryden Abs. & Achit. 96 And what was harder yet to flesh and blood, Their gods disgraced. 1714 Pope Epil. Rowe's Jane Shore 47 A piece of failing flesh and blood. 1844 Dickens Mart. Chuz. vii, There are certain things which flesh and blood cannot bear. |
d. attrib. or adj. Having actual human existence.
| 1824 S. E. Ferrier Inher. ix, A real flesh and blood living person. 1861 T. A. Trollope La Beata I. i. 6 Those other flesh and blood visitors. |
2. (One's) near kindred.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 4129 (Cott.) He..es your aun fless and blod. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 149 He ne shulde his counseil hide From hir that..was so nigh flesshe and bloud. 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xi. 131/2 This sorrowfull sight of his owne flesh and bloud could nothing moue him. 1596 Shakes. Merch. V. ii. ii. 98. 1855 Milman Lat. Chr. v. vi, Athanasius..had not spared his own flesh and blood. |
3. slang. Brandy and port in equal quantities.
| 1825 C. M. Westmacott Eng. Spy I. 294 Draughts composed of bishop and flesh and blood. |
4. The plant
Potentilla Tormentilla; also, the name of a kind of apple.
| 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. 72 Tormentil..The plant itself, under the name Flesh-and-Blood, is a popular astringent medicine for children. 1882 Devonsh. Plant-n., Flesh and Blood..a certain kind of Apple. |