What is the British meaning of the word, “bloody?”












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What does bloody mean in the British language? I hear it used all the time but I do not know the meaning of the word, "bloody."










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What does bloody mean in the British language? I hear it used all the time but I do not know the meaning of the word, "bloody."










share|improve this question









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  • It's just a general-purpose obscenity.

    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago














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What does bloody mean in the British language? I hear it used all the time but I do not know the meaning of the word, "bloody."










share|improve this question









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Rodney G McNeely Jr is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
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What does bloody mean in the British language? I hear it used all the time but I do not know the meaning of the word, "bloody."







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Check out our Code of Conduct.













  • It's just a general-purpose obscenity.

    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago



















  • It's just a general-purpose obscenity.

    – Hot Licks
    2 hours ago

















It's just a general-purpose obscenity.

– Hot Licks
2 hours ago





It's just a general-purpose obscenity.

– Hot Licks
2 hours ago










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A rather lengthy etymology of bloody: Etymonline.com



bloody (adj.)




It has been a British intensive swear word at least since 1676.
Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch
bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods
in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via
expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood."



Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c. 1750, and it was
used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c. 1750-c. 1920,
perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it
"very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of
the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid
word', on par with obscene or profane language."



The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard
to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word.
Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock
power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths
as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More
likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood
and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual
bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during
the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson]



Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza
Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1914), and for a time the word was known
euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as
late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, was when 13 civilians were
killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.




Following the original use in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the sense spread to most other parts of the English-speaking world, with the notable exception of the United States, where it has apparently only ever achieved limited currency, e.g. among sailors during the 19th cent.



The figurative meaning of bloody from the OED:




an intensifier: absolute, downright, utter. Formerly sometimes in a
negative sense: awful, terrible. More recently also as a mere filler,
with little or no intensifying force (although generally implying some
element of dislike, frustration, etc., on the part of the speaker).







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    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

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    1 Answer
    1






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    oldest

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    active

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    active

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    1














    A rather lengthy etymology of bloody: Etymonline.com



    bloody (adj.)




    It has been a British intensive swear word at least since 1676.
    Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch
    bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods
    in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via
    expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood."



    Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c. 1750, and it was
    used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c. 1750-c. 1920,
    perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it
    "very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of
    the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid
    word', on par with obscene or profane language."



    The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard
    to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word.
    Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock
    power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths
    as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More
    likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood
    and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual
    bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during
    the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson]



    Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza
    Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1914), and for a time the word was known
    euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as
    late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, was when 13 civilians were
    killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.




    Following the original use in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the sense spread to most other parts of the English-speaking world, with the notable exception of the United States, where it has apparently only ever achieved limited currency, e.g. among sailors during the 19th cent.



    The figurative meaning of bloody from the OED:




    an intensifier: absolute, downright, utter. Formerly sometimes in a
    negative sense: awful, terrible. More recently also as a mere filler,
    with little or no intensifying force (although generally implying some
    element of dislike, frustration, etc., on the part of the speaker).







    share|improve this answer




























      1














      A rather lengthy etymology of bloody: Etymonline.com



      bloody (adj.)




      It has been a British intensive swear word at least since 1676.
      Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch
      bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods
      in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via
      expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood."



      Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c. 1750, and it was
      used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c. 1750-c. 1920,
      perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it
      "very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of
      the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid
      word', on par with obscene or profane language."



      The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard
      to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word.
      Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock
      power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths
      as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More
      likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood
      and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual
      bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during
      the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson]



      Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza
      Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1914), and for a time the word was known
      euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as
      late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, was when 13 civilians were
      killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.




      Following the original use in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the sense spread to most other parts of the English-speaking world, with the notable exception of the United States, where it has apparently only ever achieved limited currency, e.g. among sailors during the 19th cent.



      The figurative meaning of bloody from the OED:




      an intensifier: absolute, downright, utter. Formerly sometimes in a
      negative sense: awful, terrible. More recently also as a mere filler,
      with little or no intensifying force (although generally implying some
      element of dislike, frustration, etc., on the part of the speaker).







      share|improve this answer


























        1












        1








        1







        A rather lengthy etymology of bloody: Etymonline.com



        bloody (adj.)




        It has been a British intensive swear word at least since 1676.
        Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch
        bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods
        in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via
        expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood."



        Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c. 1750, and it was
        used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c. 1750-c. 1920,
        perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it
        "very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of
        the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid
        word', on par with obscene or profane language."



        The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard
        to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word.
        Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock
        power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths
        as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More
        likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood
        and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual
        bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during
        the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson]



        Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza
        Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1914), and for a time the word was known
        euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as
        late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, was when 13 civilians were
        killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.




        Following the original use in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the sense spread to most other parts of the English-speaking world, with the notable exception of the United States, where it has apparently only ever achieved limited currency, e.g. among sailors during the 19th cent.



        The figurative meaning of bloody from the OED:




        an intensifier: absolute, downright, utter. Formerly sometimes in a
        negative sense: awful, terrible. More recently also as a mere filler,
        with little or no intensifying force (although generally implying some
        element of dislike, frustration, etc., on the part of the speaker).







        share|improve this answer













        A rather lengthy etymology of bloody: Etymonline.com



        bloody (adj.)




        It has been a British intensive swear word at least since 1676.
        Weekley relates it to the purely intensive use of the cognate Dutch
        bloed, German Blut. But perhaps it ultimately is connected with bloods
        in the slang sense of "rowdy young aristocrats" (see blood (n.)) via
        expressions such as bloody drunk "as drunk as a blood."



        Partridge reports that it was "respectable" before c. 1750, and it was
        used by Fielding and Swift, but heavily tabooed c. 1750-c. 1920,
        perhaps from imagined association with menstruation; Johnson calls it
        "very vulgar," and OED writes of it, "now constantly in the mouths of
        the lowest classes, but by respectable people considered 'a horrid
        word', on par with obscene or profane language."



        The onset of the taboo against bloody coincides with the increase in linguistic prudery that presaged the Victorian Era but it is hard
        to say what the precise cause was in the case of this specific word.
        Attempts have been made to explain the term's extraordinary shock
        power by invoking etymology. Theories that derive it from such oaths
        as "By our Lady" or "God's blood" seem farfetched, however. More
        likely, the taboo stemmed from the fear that many people have of blood
        and, in the minds of some, from an association with menstrual
        bleeding. Whatever, the term was debarred from polite society during
        the whole of the nineteenth century. [Rawson]



        Shaw shocked theatergoers when he put it in the mouth of Eliza
        Doolittle in "Pygmalion" (1914), and for a time the word was known
        euphemistically as "the Shavian adjective." It was avoided in print as
        late as 1936. Bloody Sunday, Jan. 30, 1972, was when 13 civilians were
        killed by British troops at protest in Londonderry, Northern Ireland.




        Following the original use in England, Scotland, and Ireland, the sense spread to most other parts of the English-speaking world, with the notable exception of the United States, where it has apparently only ever achieved limited currency, e.g. among sailors during the 19th cent.



        The figurative meaning of bloody from the OED:




        an intensifier: absolute, downright, utter. Formerly sometimes in a
        negative sense: awful, terrible. More recently also as a mere filler,
        with little or no intensifying force (although generally implying some
        element of dislike, frustration, etc., on the part of the speaker).








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