c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 30 Wið hare blod schedunge irudet & ireadet as þe martirs weren.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) 11413 Þer after com muche blod ssedinge.

c1400 (?a1387) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Huntington HM 137) (1873) C. xvi. l. 156 (MED) Ich wolde..wynnen al Fraunce With-oute..eny blod-sheding.

1485 Malory's Morte Darthur (Caxton) ii. xviii. sig. dviii Doubte it was to here of that bataille for the grete blood shedynge.

a1513 R. Fabyan New Cronycles Eng. & Fraunce (1516) I. lxxxvi. f. xxxiii^v The kynge, whiche is cruell and full of blode shedynge.

1549 W. Thomas Hist. Italie f. 22 What noumbres of warres the Romaynes haue mainteygned, with infinite bloudsheddyng..and a thousande other tyrannies.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 2 (1623) iv. vii. 99 These hands are free from guiltlesse bloodshedding . View more context for this quotation

1659 H. H. B. tr. Aristophanes Plutus 36 Our pride and self opinion first taught us to practise Tiranny and blood-shedding over other creatures.

1720 T. Wood Inst. Laws Eng. II. iii. iii. 740 It [sc. a libel] may Excite the Libelled, or His Friends, to Revenge, and be the Cause of Blood-Shedding.

1799 R. Heber Let. 21 Oct. in Heber Lett. (1950) iv. 116 This enterprise, alas!..turns out full of dangers and difficulties and blood-shedding to our land Forces.

1843 C. Daubeny Jrnl. Tour U.S. & Canada 157 It is..a remarkable proof of the indifference with which bloodshedding is regarded in this State, that..the offender should have been bailed for 3000 dollars.

1869 W. E. Gladstone Juventus Mundi x. 384 With respect to blood-shedding, the morality of the Greeks of Homer was extremely loose.

1920 W. B. Richmond Democracy x. 91 War..degrades a people. Bloodshedding is a form of madness.

1995 A. Bonadeo D'Annunzio & Great War iii. 138 The bloodshed on the battlefields of the Great War created a legacy that demanded more bloodshedding.

a1500 (?a1400) Stanzaic Life of Christ (Harl. 3909) (1926) l. 1349 The third poynt was blode-shedyng [L. tercio de sanguinis effusione] that he for vs shed..ffyue sith..his blode he shed ffor vs.

?1531 J. Frith Disput. Purgatorye i. sig. d8 Jesus Christ..hath delyuered vs thorow his bloudeshedynge.

1583 P. Stubbes Second Pt. Anat. Abuses sig. P7^v The precious death, passion, bloodshedding, and obedience of Christe Iesus.

1643 W. Walwyn Power of Love in W. Haller Tracts on Liberty (1933) II. 293 So powerful was his [sc. Christ's] bloud-shedding, and of so full value for discharging of all our debts.

1686 H. More Brief Disc. Real Presence vii. 51 The innumerable benefits, which by his precious Bloodshedding, he hath obtained to us.

1746 J. Hervey Refl. Flower-garden 42 in Medit. among Tombs In Christ's most precious Blood-shedding, O! with what un-imaginable Complacency, does Justice rest satisfied.

1799 J. Pawson Legacy to Poor ix. 237 The blessed Jesus has made a perfect atonement for the sins of the whole world, by his precious blood shedding.

1827 Spiritual Mag. Mar. 303 Jesus by his most precious bloodshedding, has consumed or put out the fire of God's holy law.

1892 J. Tait Mind in Matter 247 Although sin overflows so as to embrace others besides the guilty, the idea of substitution by blood-shedding would scarcely come as a self-suggestion.

1910 S. D. Gordon Quiet Talks about Tempter iv. 175 There is never a moment when we do not need to trust that precious bloodshedding of His on account of our sins.

2003 Church Times 10 Oct. 21/5 The reconciliation between God and humankind that Christ affects through his blood shedding.

?1569 H. Gough tr. B. Georgijević Ofspring House of Ottomanno sig. K.vii^v This relation encreased newe and no small suspicion in hys vncurteouse and bloudshedynge father.

1597 G. Markham tr. G. Pétau de Maulette Deuoreux f. 30 As calme-facst Peace, exceeds blood-shedding Warre.

1633 Costlie Whore iv. sig. G3 The halter, poyson or bloodshedding blade.

1676 J. Hall Jacobs Ladder (ed. 2) 80 In his precious Bloodsheding Death, and perfect obedience, free us from all the guilt, the stain, the punishment, and dominion of all our sins.

1764 J. Brown Serm. Var. Subj. 302 The inveterate Principles of that blood-shedding Persuasion.

1826 E. Irving Babylon II. vii. 183 To deliver them with a blood-shedding vengeance.

1880 Shaker Manifesto Aug. 174/1 Let all the blood-thirsty and blood-shedding warriors engage in some honest, honorable and peaceful employment.

1910 U.S. Naval Med. Bull. 10 357 A bloodshedding operation for holding the fragments in position is sometimes imperatively demanded.

1993 D. J. Halperin Seeking Ezekiel iv. 166 The child Ezekiel created his image of a bloodshedding, child-murdering female.