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Noun: bloodletting  'blúd,le-ting
  1. (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"
     
  2. 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