blood and thunderint.n.
/ˌblʌd (ə)n(d) ˈθʌndə/, U.S. /ˌbləd ən ˈθəndər/ A. int.
Expressing anger or exasperation. Cf. blood n. 6. Now rare and archaic.
ΚΠ
1696 C. Cibber Love's Last Shift iv. 66 Bloud and Thunder, Sir! dare you fight?
1739 H. Baker & J. Miller tr. Molière Cheats of Scapin ii. ix, in Wks. X. 240 Blood and Thunder! I'd whip my Sword thro' his Body in an instant.
1778 H. Brooke Little John & Giants i. ii. 10 Do you think to fright us? blood and thunder!
1823 Ld. Byron Don Juan: Canto VIII i. 111 Oh blood and thunder! and oh blood and wounds! These are but vulgar oaths.
1857 H. C. Preuss Fashions & Follies of Washington Life ii. iii. 34 Blood and thunder! what a wretched experiment this world is!
a1892 Ld. Tennyson Devil & Lady (1930) ii. vi. 40 Blood and thunder, messmates, It seems I've run aground here.
1909 Gateway Jan. 18/2 She added, ‘Let us go get a minister or a priest.’ ‘Blood and thunders, I am married for the past twenty years,’ said Pat. ‘But you promised me,’ said she.]
B. n.
1. Violent action and language, esp. of a melodramatic kind; the representation of this; (now also in weakened sense) aggressive or bad-tempered physical confrontation, typically in a sporting context.Cf. thunder n. 3.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > manner of action > violent action or operation > [noun] > and noise
blood and thunder1739
slam-banging1823
1739 T. C. Pagett Kind of Dial. in Hudibrasticks 12 'Tis Mars must charge thro' Blood and Thunder, But Mercury as well can plunder.
1744 London Mag. Dec. 614/1 Horrid plunder, Blood and thunder, French and Spaniard both, g—d rot 'em.
1860 A. Lincoln Speech 27 Feb. in H. J. Raymond Life & Public Services Abraham Lincoln (1865) iii. 94 Each faction..defines Black Republicanism to simply be insurrection, blood, and thunder among the slaves.]
1899 Punch 11 Oct. 173/1 You're too much given to blood and thunder And battle and murder and sudden death.
1946 in P. W. Tappan Juvenile Delinquency (1949) iv. 73 I believe that this kind of vicarious adventure, escape, excitement, even blood and thunder is necessary and important to most children as outlets for their own emotions.
1968 Leader-Post (Regina, Sask.) 23 Dec. 21/2 The late..editor..often expounded on culinary arts as well as providing a fare of blood and thunder and scandal in general.
1979 Globe & Mail (Toronto) (Nexis) 31 July The full blood-and-thunder of the league will soon be with us.
1986 Newsweek (Nexis) 23 June (Arts) 79 The ancient Greek theater..scared its audience with blood and thunder and lifted them with religious exaltation.
1998 Sported! 12 Mar. 68 National pride now rests on 80 minutes of blood and thunder on the rugby field.
2. A work of fiction featuring or characterized by bloodshed and violence; a sensationally violent story, drama, etc. Cf. blood n. 23.
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society > leisure > the arts > literature > prose > narrative or story > novel > [noun] > sensational novel or thriller
sensation novel1856
penny dreadful1861
dime novel1864
curdler1872
dreadful1874
blood and thunder1876
penny awful1880
shilling dreadful1885
thrill1886
thriller1889
blood1892
terror novel1896
penny horrible1899
spine-thriller1912
roman noir1926
spine-chiller1940
scorcher1942
spine-tingler1942
spine-freezer1960
1876 London Society Mar. 261 Who's to play Macbeth? No melodrama star, sir, in God's name for me, Who'll play six blood-and-thunders in one week.
1908 Among Ourselves Feb. 188/1 It is possible that he has been reading the tenpenny blood and thunders.
1955 G. McClintic Me & Kit i. 9 [He] wrote most of the plays to boot. They were really blood-and-thunders with titillating titles, such as The Queen of the Highway.
2000 G. Knight in D. Fortune Appl. Magic Introd. p. xiv The highly entertaining blood and thunders of the paperback market are generally the works of ill-informed occult outsiders.
Compounds
General attributive, esp. with reference to violent language or action, or sensational fiction.With reference to oratory, rhetoric, etc.: characterized by anger, or forthright ideas and expression.
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1816 Maryland Gaz. & Polit. Intelligencer 28 Mar. 2/4 If they are so foolish as to resolve to remain, what will these ‘blood and thunder’ gentry say to them.
1852 Lantern (N.Y.) 2 67/2 Most, however, of these ‘blood, thunder, and whiskey articles’, are written by raw lads.]
1855 ‘Q. K. P. Doesticks’ Doesticks, what he Says xxv. 226 Had I not been informed..that this was a specimen of a sterling ‘legitimate Classic Drama’, I should have supposed it to be a blood and thunder graft of another stock transplanted here.
1857 O. W. Wight Quinland II. 76 Mrs. Bill, left to herself, resumed reading a blood and thunder romance.
1875 Congress. Rec. Mar. 106/1 All the rest of these blood-and-thunder stories he does not profess to know.
1880 A. A. Hayes New Colorado xi. 149 The modern kind..would not make a hero for a juvenile ‘blood and thunder’ weekly.
1887 Cent. Mag. Dec. 194/2 I'm not likely to hold myself accountable to any blood-and-thunder reprobate who tries to influence my conduct.
1927 Observer 11 Dec. 15/2 This play is a blood-and-thunder piece.
1936 F. Frankfurter in A. MacLeish & E. F. Prichard Law & Politics: Occas. Papers Felix Frankfurter (1939) 238 Old forms of tyranny with new labels, sponsored with blood-and-thunder oratory, began to make alluring appeal to people.
1954 Sat. Rev. (U.S.) 17 Apr. 36/1 Mr. Brick compresses a multitude of breakneck incidents that makes his book a blood-and-thunder pleasure to read.
1992 Economist 31 Oct. 123/3 In a blood-and-thunder speech, he [sc. Castro] called for sacrifice.
2010 Birmingham Evening Mail. (Nexis) 18 Dec. (Features) 30 Mick McCarthy says referees have killed the traditional blood and thunder derby.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2012; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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int.n.1696