Main entry: battue, bloodbath, bloodletting, bloodshed
Definition: indiscriminate slaughter
Usage: 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
Main entry: bloodletting
Definition: formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)