Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BLOOD, n. [Sax. blod; Sw. and Dan. blod; Ger. blut, blood; bluten, to bleed; D. bloed, blood; bloeden, to bleed; allied perhaps to Gr. βλυζω.]

1. The fluid which circulates through the arteries and veins of the human body, and of other animals, which is essential to the preservation of life. This fluid is generally red. If the blood of an animal is not red, such animal is called exsanguious, or white-blooded; the blood being white, or white tinged with blue.
2. Kindred; relation by natural descent from a common ancestor; consanguinity. God hath made of one blood, all nations of the earth. – Acts xvii. Hence the word is used for a child; a family; a kindred; descent; lineage; progeny; descendants, &c.
3. Royal lineage; blood royal; as, a prince of the blood.
4. Honorable birth; high extraction; as, a gentleman of blood. – Shak.
5. Life. Shall I not require his blood at your hands? – 2 Sam. iv.
6. Slaughter; murder, or bloodshedding. I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu. – Hosea i. The voice of thy brother's blood crieth to me from the ground. – Gen. iv.
7. Guilt and punishment. Your blood be upon your own heads. – Acts xviii.
8. Fleshly nature; the carnal part of man, as opposed to the spiritual nature, or divine life. Who were born, not of flesh and blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. – John i.
9. Man, or human wisdom, or reason. Flesh and blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my father who is in heaven. – Matth. xvi.
10. A sacramental symbol of the blood of Christ. This is my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for the remission of sins. – Matth. xxvi.
11. The death and sufferings of Christ. Being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. – Rom v. 9. Eph. i.
12. The price of blood; that which is obtained by shedding blood, and seizing goods. Woe to him that buildeth a town with blood. – Hab. ii. Acts i.
13. Temper of mind; state of the passions; but in this sense, accompanied with cold or warm, or other qualifying word. Thus to commit an act in cold blood, is to do it deliberately, and without sudden passion. Warm blood denotes a temper inflamed or irritated; to warm or heat the blood, is to excite the passions.
14. A hot spark; a man of fire or spirit; a rake.
15. The juice of any thing, especially if red; as, “the blood of grapes.” – Gen. xlix. Whole blood. In law, a kinsman of the whole blood is one who descends from the same couple of ancestors; of the half blood, one who descends from either of them singly, by a second marriage. – Encyc.