formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)
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"
The archaic practice of treating illness by removing some blood, believed to be tainted, from the stricken person.
present participle of bloodlet