Noun: bloodletting 'blúd,le-ting
- (Middle Ages) formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humours of medieval medicine)
"Bloodletting was a common but misguided medical practice in the past"
- Indiscriminate slaughter
"ten days after the bloodletting Hitler gave the action its name";
- bloodbath, bloodshed, battue
Derived forms: bloodlettings
Type of: butchery, carnage, mass murder, massacre, medical aid, medical care, slaughter
Encyclopedia: Bloodletting