bloodletting   (TTS Sound)

The noun bloodletting has 2 senses

• bloodletting -- (formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine))


• bloodbath, bloodletting, bloodshed, battue -- (indiscriminate slaughter; "a bloodbath took place when the leaders of the plot surrendered"; "ten days after the bloodletting Hitler gave the action its name"; "the valley is no stranger to bloodshed and murder"; "a huge prison battue was ordered")