let blood

verb

To extract blood from (a person, part of the body etc.).

First used 9th c.
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Meanings

verblet blood (third-person singular simple present lets blood, present participle letting blood, simple past and past participle let blood)

present singular third person lets blood · participle present letting blood

  1. archaichistoricaltransitiveTo extract blood from (a person, part of the body etc.).First known use 9th c.

    Is the foole sicke […] Alacke, let it blood.

    c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)
    1 more example

    The Swiss […] let him blood immediately, without hesitation, being always provided with a case of lancets, against all accidents on the road.

    1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 84, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume III, London: Harrison and Co., […], →OCLC
  2. archaichistoricalintransitiveTo bleed someone; to extract blood from a person, part of the body etc. for supposed therapeutic purposes, especially by phlebotomy.First known use 10th c.
  3. figurativelyTo make (someone or something) bleed, in a general sense; to cut; to kill.First known use 13th c.
Cite this entry
APA

let blood. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/let%20blood

MLA

“let blood.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/let%20blood. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “let blood,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/let%20blood.

Source: let blood on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.