bloodletting

Noun

• 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
    

• formerly used as a treatment to reduce excess blood (one of the four humors of medieval medicine)

Related words

• Synonyms: 
  bloodbath , bloodshed , battue