bleed

present singular third person bleeds · participle present bleeding · participle past bled · past bled

1. intransitiveanimal or body partTo shed blood through an injured blood vessel.

   If her nose bleeds, try to use ice.

2. intransitiveTo menstruate.

   You haven't bled. It's been over a month since your arrival, and you haven't bled.

   2020 December 25, Chris Van Dusen, “Diamond of the First Water”, in Bridgerton, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Lady Portia Featherington

3. transitiveTo let or draw blood from.

   "What did they die of?" I asked. "Fevers. The doctor came and bled them and purged them, but they still died." "He bled and purged babies?" "They were two and three. He said it would break the fever. And it did. But they ... they died anyway."

   1979, Octavia E. Butler, Kindred, Beacon Press (2024), page 239

4. transitiveTo take large amounts of money from.
5. transitiveTo steadily lose (something vital).

   The company was bleeding talent.

6. intransitiveTo spread from the intended location and stain the surrounding cloth or paper.

   Ink traps counteract bleeding.

   1 more example

   The ink bled only a little; if one raised the index card to one’s eye, it was possible to see the microscopic wisps and flicks seep out from the intended lines and curves out into the paper’s grain.

   2020, Eley Williams, The Liarʼs Dictionary, William Heinemann, page 201

7. transitiveTo remove air bubbles from a pipe containing other fluids.
8. transitiveTo tap off high-pressure gas (usually air) from a system that produces high-pressure gas primarily for another purpose.

   At low engine speeds, valves open to bleed some of the highly-compressed air from the later compressor stages, helping to prevent engine surging.

   1 more example

   High-pressure air bled from the APU is used to spin up the engines and run the APU generator and hydraulic pump, and can also be used to pressurise the cabin if necessary.

9. obsoletetransitiveTo bleed on; to make bloody.
10. copulativefigurativelyintransitiveTo show one's group loyalty by showing (its associated color) in one's blood.

    He was a devoted Vikings fan: he bled purple.

11. To lose sap, gum, or juice.

    A tree or a vine bleeds when tapped or wounded.

12. To issue forth, or drop, like blood from an incision.

    For me the balm shall bleed.

    1713, [Alexander] Pope, Windsor-Forest. […], London: […] Bernard Lintott […], →OCLC

13. transitivehuman sciencesTo destroy the environment where another phonological rule would have applied.

    Labialization bleeds palatalization.

    Antonyms: feed

14. ambitransitiveadvertisingTo (cause to) extend to the edge of the page, without leaving any margin.

    Too, bleeding beyond margins provides editors with several picas of space for more layout.

    2004, Dorothy A. Bowles, Diane L. Borden, Creative Editing, page 361

    1 more example

    Full-page and double-page colour advertisements in the Sunday colour magazines usually bleed off the page' (or are 'bled to the margin'), […]

    1998, Macmillan Dictionary of Marketing and Advertising, page 35

15. intransitivebusinessTo lose money.

    Most of the sectors are bleeding, particularly the resources sector.

plural bleeds

1. countableuncountableAn incident of bleeding, as in haemophilia.
2. countableplural normallyuncountableaeronauticsA system for tapping hot, high-pressure air from a gas turbine engine for purposes such as cabin pressurization and airframe anti-icing.

   When taking off at high altitude or at near-maximum weight, the bleeds have to be turned off temporarily, as they decrease engine power somewhat.

3. countableuncountablemediaA narrow edge around a page layout, to be printed but cut off afterwards (added to allow for slight misalignment, especially with pictures that should run to the edge of the finished sheet).
4. countableuncountablebroadcastingA margin left at the edges of a shot to allow for the picture being cropped when it arrives at viewers' screens.
5. countableuncountablesound recordingThe situation where sound is picked up by a microphone from a source other than that which is intended.
6. countableuncountableThe removal of air bubbles from a pipe containing other fluids.
7. uncountableroleplaying gamesThe phenomenon of in-character feelings affecting a player's feelings or actions outside of the game.