bloodletting

Từ điển WordNet v3.1 - WordNet Dictionary

noun

1. formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)
• Topics:
Middle Ages, Dark Ages, medicine, medical specialty
• Hypernyms:
medical care, medical aid
• Hyponyms:
venesection, phlebotomy, cupping
2. 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
• Syn:
bloodbath, bloodshed, battue
• Hypernyms:
slaughter, massacre, mass murder, carnage, butchery