bloodshot

[bluhd-shot]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR bloodshot ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

(of the eyes) red because of dilated blood vessels.

Origin of bloodshot

1545–55; apocopated variant of blood-shotten. See blood, shotten

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for bloodshot

bloody, red

Examples from the Web for bloodshot

Contemporary Examples of bloodshot

He emerged with two fully covered arms, ringed with vines and bloodshot eyes.
Laws Gone Wild: As Teen Sweethearts Go to Prison for Sex, Mothers Rebel
Abigail Pesta
January 25, 2012

Historical Examples of bloodshot

His bloodshot eyes blinked truculently at his alighted fare.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
Then, with a quick look into his bloodshot eyes, she went on: “Why did you wait for me—here?”
The Law-Breakers
Ridgwell Cullum
His eyes were ringed and bloodshot with fatigue, and with incipient snow-blindness.
Murder Point
Coningsby Dawson
Her hands were hot, her head was feverish, and her blind eyes were bloodshot.
The Scapegoat
Hall Caine
There were sobs in Robbie's voice, but no tears in his bloodshot eyes.
The Shadow of a Crime
Hall Caine

British Dictionary definitions for bloodshot

bloodshot

adjective

(of an eye) inflamed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for bloodshot

adj.

also blood-shot, 1550s, short for bloodshotten (c.1500), from blood (n.) + old past participle of shoot.

bloodshot in Medicine

bloodshot

[blŭd′shŏt′]

adj.

Red and inflamed as a result of locally congested blood vessels, as of the eyes.