Bloodletting - Definition
bloodletting
n 1: formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of
the four humors of medieval medicine)
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, bloodletting, bloodshed,
battue]