bloody

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bloody1

▶adjective (bloodier, bloodiest)

• 1 covered with or composed of blood.

• 2 involving much violence or cruelty.

▶verb (bloodies, bloodying, bloodied) cover or stain with blood.

– derivatives
bloodily adverb,
bloodiness noun.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
bloody2

▶adjective (bloodier, bloodiest) informal, chiefly Brit.

• 1 used to express anger or shock, or for emphasis.

• 2 dated unpleasant or perverse: don't be too bloody to poor Nigel.

word history: Although widely believed to be a blasphemous reference to the blood of God or Christ, as in the archaic oath 'S-blood or God's blood, the informal use of bloody was probably, in the first place, simply a reference to young bloods (that is ‘young aristocrats’, or children of ‘good blood’), who behaved in a rowdy manner; in the 17th century the phrase bloody drunk meant ‘drunk as a blood’ or ‘drunk as a lord’.