bleed

¹bleed

verb \ˈblēd\

bled \ˈbled\ bleed·ing

Definition of BLEED

intransitive verb

1

a : to emit or lose blood

b : to sacrifice one's blood especially in battle

2

: to feel anguish, pain, or sympathy <a heart that bleeds at a friend's misfortune>

3

a : to escape by oozing or flowing (as from a wound)

b : to spread into or through something gradually : seep <foreign policy bleeds into economic policy — J. B. Judis>

4

: to give up some constituent (as sap or dye) by exuding or diffusing it

5

a : to pay out or give money

b : to have money extorted

6

: to be printed so as to run off one or more edges of the page after trimming

transitive verb

1

: to remove or draw blood from

2

: to get or extort money from especially over a prolonged period

3

: to draw sap from (a tree)

4

a : to extract or let out some or all of a contained substance from <bleed a brake line>

b : to extract or cause to escape from a container

c : to diminish gradually —usually used with off <a pilot bleeding off airspeed>

d : to lose rapidly and uncontrollably <the company was bleeding money>

e : sap <cost overruns…bleed other programs — Alex Roland>

5

: to cause (as a printed illustration) to bleed

— bleed white

: to drain of blood or resources

Examples of BLEED

1. She was bleeding from the face and hands.
2. Doctors used to bleed their patients in an effort to cure them.
3. We bled air from the tank.
4. You'll need to bleed the car's brake lines.

Origin of BLEED

Middle English bleden, from Old English blēdan, from blōd blood

First Known Use: before 12th century

Related to BLEED

Synonyms

agonize, anguish, grieve, hurt, mourn, sorrow, suffer

Antonyms

fill

Related Words

ache, long (for), pine (away), sigh, smart; rack, torment, torture; bemoan, bewail, deplore, lament, rue; bawl, blubber, cry, groan, howl, keen, moan, sob, take on, wail, weep, yammer, yowl; languish; regret

Near Antonyms

beam, cheer, crow, delight, exult, glory, joy, laugh, ravish, rejoice, triumph; assure, cheer, comfort, commiserate, console, reassure, solace, soothe, sympathize

Rhymes with BLEED

bead, Bede, brede, breed, cede, creed, deed, feed, Gide, gleed, greed, heed, keyed, knead, kneed, lead, mead, Mead, Mede, meed, need, plead, read, rede, reed, screed, seed, Snead, speed, steed, swede, treed, tweed, weed

²bleed

noun

Definition of BLEED

1

: printed matter (as an illustration) that bleeds; also : the part of a bleed trimmed off

2

: the escape of blood from vessels : hemorrhage

First Known Use of BLEED

circa 1937