Definition of "bloodshed" []

• The shedding of blood, especially the injury or killing of people. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "An _arrière pensée_ should lie hidden in all minds -- a holy reserve as to cases which _may_ arise similar to such as HAVE arisen, where a merciful bloodshed [Footnote: "_Merciful bloodshed_" -- In reading either the later religious wars of the"
• "And they stick to the idea that bloodshed is needed to achieve something good."
• "Therefore it seems that a showdown and perhaps bloodshed is unavoidable, to be recorded by the international press teams aboard the “Freedom Flotilla.”"