bloodbath

English

Alternative forms

• blood bath

Etymology

Coined in 1867. Compound of blood and bath, the latter used to refer in the metaphorical sense to a deluge of a thing.

Noun

bloodbath (plural bloodbaths)

1. Indiscriminate killing or slaughter, a massacre.
   • 1814, Robert Jamieson, “Stark Tiderich and Olger Danske”, in Illustrations of northern antiquities, from the earlier Tentonie and Scandinavian romances: being an abstract of the Book of heroes, and Nibelungen lay; with translation of metrical tales, from the Old German, Danish, Swedish, and Icelandie languages; with notes and dissertations^[1], Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co., translation of Kæmpe Viser, Popular Heroic and Romantic Ballads, translated from the Northern Languages, with Notes and Illustrations, page 272:

     There lay the steed; here lay the man; Gude friends that day did twin: They leuch na a' to the feast that cam Whan the het bluid-bath was done.

   • 22 March 2012, Scott Tobias, AV Club The Hunger Games[2]

     In movie terms, it suggests Paul Verhoeven in Robocop/Starship Troopers mode, an R-rated bloodbath where the grim spectacle of children murdering each other on television is bread-and-circuses for the age of reality TV, enforced by a totalitarian regime to keep the masses at bay.

2. (sports) An aggressive or very violent contest or confrontation.
   • 1951, Tim Cohane, “Be Each, Pray God, a Gentlemen!”, in The Yale Football Story^[3], New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, page 93:

     Although the Hampden Park blood bath of '94 caused Yale and Harvard to break off football relations for the next two years, they kept close watch on each other.

3. (figuratively) An upset (as of a game with unexpected results) or heavy defeat.
4. (figuratively, business) A large financial loss or massive layoff brought about by negative economic conditions.
   • 1989, “Richard Daley Wins Chicago Mayoral Race; Blacks Fail to Unite Behind Tim Evans”, in Robert E. Johnson editor, Jet Magazine^[4], volume 76, Chicago: Johnson Publishing Company, National Report, page 9:

     In an interview after the victory, Daley sought to assure Blacks that there would be no personnel bloodbath at City Hall.

5. A bath taken in warm blood used as a restorative or medical treatment.
   • 1834, “On Blood-Baths: An Historical Notice.”, in The London Medical Gazette; Being a Weekly Journal of Medicine and the Collateral Sciences^[5], volume 13, London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, Green, & Longman, page 813:

     On Blood-Baths: An Historical Notice. By Dr. Hecker. According to a dark tradition which is incidentally mentioned by Pliny, the ancient kings of Egypt used to bathe in human blood when they were seized with leprosy.

Translations

indiscriminate killing or slaughter

• Afrikaans: bloedbad, moordparty
• Arabic: مذبحة f (maḏbaḥa)
• Bulgarian: кръвопролитие (bg) n (krǎvoprolitie), клане (bg) n (klane)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 血洗 (zh) (xuèxǐ), 大屠殺 (zh), 大屠杀 (dàtúshā)

• Danish: blodbad
• Dutch: bloedbad (nl)
• Finnish: verilöyly (fi)
• French: bain de sang (fr)
• German: Blutbad (de) n
• Hebrew: מרחץ-דמים m (merkhatz-damym)
• Hungarian: vérfürdő (hu)

• Icelandic: blóðbað (is) n
• Italian: bagno di sangue m
• Japanese: 大虐殺 (だいぎゃくさつ, daigyakusatsu), 刃傷沙汰 (ja) (にんじょうざた, ninjōzata), 刃傷 (ja) (にんじょう, ninjō)
• Kannada: ರಣಗೊಲೆ (kn) (raṇagole)
• Kyrgyz: кызыл кыргын (ky) f (kızıl kırgın)
• Maori: tārukenga
• Portuguese: banho de sangue m
• Russian: кровавая баня (ru) f (krovávaja bánja), (bloodshed) кровопролитие (ru) (krovoprolítije), резня (ru) f (reznjá)
• Spanish: baño de sangre m
• Swedish: blodbad (sv)

upset

• French: massacre (fr) m, bain de sang (fr) m, boucherie (fr) f