Definition of the word bloody1

Word Originmid 17th cent.: from bloody2. The use of bloody to add emphasis to an expression is of uncertain origin, but is thought to have a connection with the “bloods” (aristocratic rowdies) of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; hence the phrase bloody drunk (= as drunk as a blood) meant “very drunk indeed”. After the mid 18th cent. until quite recently bloody used as a swear word was regarded as unprintable, probably from the mistaken belief that it implied a blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ, or that the word was an alteration of “by Our Lady”; hence a widespread caution in using the term even in phrases, such as bloody battle, merely referring to bloodshed.