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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

blood and thunder en · ADJ

Etymology

blood (noun) + and (conjunction) + thunder (noun). First attested in 1696.

Meanings

  1. (especially, not-comparable, of language, qualifier:action) Both melodramatically violent and aggressive; characterized by anger, or forthright ideas and expression.
    • "Your husband is an American. He should be able to keep you well entertained with blood-and-thunder stories," said he. 1904, George Barr McCutcheon, chapter VI, in Beverly of Graustark:
    • Very sincerely do we wish that at least one of the many romance writers who are so industriously inventing wild-animal blood-and-thunder stories would do more work with his eyes and less with his imagination. 1922, William T. Hornaday, The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals:
    • blood-and-thunder stories
    • Not Buffalo Bill's! He gave us a jack-o'-lantern scare once upon a time, which I don't believe any of us will ever forget. We had never seen that weird species of pumpkin, and Will embroidered a blood-and-thunder narrative. 1899, Helen Cody Wetmore, Zane Grey, Last of the Great Scouts:

Deriveds

thud and blunder

blood and thunder en · INTJ

Etymology

blood (noun) + and (conjunction) + thunder (noun). First attested in 1696.

Meanings

  1. (archaic, rare) Expressing anger or exasperation.
    • Strap following, with the knapsack on his back, chanced to take the other side, and, by a jolt of the carriage, pitched directly upon the stomach of the captain, who bellowed out, in a most dreadful manner, “Blood and thunder! where’s my sword?” 1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter XI, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 75:
    • "Man the capstan! Blood and thunder!—jump!"—was the next command, and the crew sprang for the handspikes. 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC:

blood and thunder en · NOUN

Etymology

blood (noun) + and (conjunction) + thunder (noun). First attested in 1696.

Meanings

  1. Violent action and language, especially of a melodramatic kind, or the representation of this, or an aggressive or bad-tempered physical confrontation, typically in a sporting context.
    • […]she could fancy how Thurston was saying to himself: "But what's the good of this? It's blood and thunder we want. The old feller's getting past his work. He must go." 1920, Hugh Walpole, chapter IV, in The Captives:
  2. A work of fiction featuring or characterized by bloodshed and violence; a sensationally violent story, drama, etc.