shed blood

Idioms  

1. Also, spill blood. Wound or kill someone, especially violently. For example, It was a bitter fight but fortunately no blood was shed, or A great deal of blood has been spilled in this family feud. Both of these terms allude to causing blood to flow and fall on the ground. The first dates from the 1200s. The variant amplifies the verb spill, which from about 1300 to 1600 by itself meant “slay” or “kill”; it was first recorded about 1125.

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shed blood

"They've shed blood for it. And they're not going to give it away," Vaez said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026

"President Zelenskyy represents a nation whose citizens have sacrificed their lives and shed blood for the freedoms they cherish," he wrote on social media.

From Salon ● Feb. 28, 2025

Mr Kim reportedly told Mr Li that "the Korean people will never forget the fact that the brave soldiers of the Chinese People's Volunteers shed blood to bring about the war victory".

From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2023

Although born to a prosperous, secular Jewish family from Berlin’s bourgeois Zehlendorf district, she signed up with the Communists, who seemed to be the only ones prepared to shed blood to fight the Nazis.

From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2020

They would say she hadn’t shed blood but wept it.

From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor