draw blood

Idioms and Phrases

Injure someone physically or emotionally. For example, The bullet skimmed his shoulder and barely drew any blood , or That reviewer really knows how to draw blood . This term alludes to drawing blood for diagnostic purposes.

Example Sentences

Weeks later, LyBurtus had to dial 911 again after he bit his sister’s finger badly enough to draw blood.

From Los Angeles Times

“Hacks,” however, makes the battle entertaining, even when the characters we love draw blood.

From Salon

Born Jack Adkisson in 1929, family patriarch Fritz Von Erich found early success adopting a Nazi villain persona during his own wrestling days in the 1950s, cultivating the signature “Iron Claw” hold in which he squeezed his rivals’ faces with his bare hand so hard, he’d sometimes draw blood.

From Los Angeles Times

When a man bluntly asks her to play something more upbeat, she snarls, cries and gives the man a look that could draw blood.

From Los Angeles Times

Cases pending elsewhere include paramedics in Illinois facing first-degree murder charges after a patient they strapped facedown to a stretcher suffocated, and an involuntary manslaughter charge against a nurse in California who continued to draw blood from an unresponsive patient while officers pinned him down.

From Washington Times

Related Words

• batter
• break
• damage
• harm
• hurt
• maim
• mutilate
• torture
• wound