blood sport

See also: bloodsport

English

Alternative forms

• bloodsport

Noun

blood sport (countable and uncountable, plural blood sports)

1. (literally) A sport involving the killing or the shedding of blood of animals.

   Hyponyms: baiting, hunting, coursing

   • 2023 December 6, Sam Lansky, “Person of Year 2023 : Taylor Swift”, in Time‎^[1]:

     The way she said, “Are you not entertained?”—surely we both knew it was a quote from Gladiator, a movie in which a hero falls from grace, is forced to perform blood sport for the pleasure of spectators, and emerges victorious, having survived humiliation and debasement to soar higher than ever.

2. (figuratively) Any activity that revels in the misfortune of others, or taking advantage of others.
   • 2003, J. D. Brown, Josh Chin, Michelle Sans, Sharon Owyang, Beth Reiber, Graeme Smith, edited by Peter Neville-Hadley, Frommer's China, page 248:

     Shopping here is bloodsport, and you are the game, but the vendors are friendly.

   • 2020 June 5, Alyson Krueger, “The Agonizing Question: Is New York City Worth It Anymore?”, in New York Times‎^[2]:

     Debating the topic, of course, is practically a blood sport. There is an essay genre devoted to “Leaving New York.”

3. (BDSM) Synonym of bloodplay

Translations

sport involving the killing of animals

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 流血運動／流血运动 (liúxuè yùndòng)

• Dutch: kwelspel (nl) n
• Finnish: veriurheilu
• Japanese: ブラッド・スポーツ (buraddo-supōtsu)
• Russian: крова́вая заба́ва f (krovávaja zabáva), крова́вый спорт m (krovávyj sport)
• Spanish: deporte sangriento m

Further reading

• blood sport on Wikipedia.Wikipedia