bloodthirstyadj.

1539 Bible (Great) Psalms cxxxix f. xxvi/2 Departe from me ye bloude thirstye men.

1544 J. Bale Brefe Chron. Syr I. Oldecastell Pref. f. 13 The kynge gentyllye harde those bloud thurstye rauenours.

1581 J. Marbeck Bk. Notes & Common Places 753 God will abhorre those bloudthirstie and deceiptfull men.

1639 G. Daniel Ecclus. xxii. 86 Some busines for blood-thirsty Swords.

1670 R. Baxter Cure Church-div. 132 And is he not requited by the censures of them that think that he is but a blood thirsty limb of Antichrist himself?

1715 H. Carey Contrivances 27 I wou'd not venture amongst such a parcel of Bloodthirsty Rogues for the World.

1794 Monthly Rev. Mar. 333 They have become unjust, ferocious, and blood-thirsty; and so abandoned to wickedness.

1809 S. Smith in Edinb. Rev. July 500 Lewis XVI was wantonly sacrificed to the rage of an insane and bloodthirsty faction.

1895 Argosy Dec. 228/1 The most important thing at present is to get your companions out of the power of those bloodthirsty fiends.

1915 R. W. Campbell Private Spud Tamson iii. 23 Once on the Frontier of India he had slaughtered ten bloodthirsty Pathans in the space of an hour.

1968 E. Cleaver Soul on Ice ii. i. 71 Moloch, a bloodthirsty Semitic deity to which the ancient tribes sacrificed their firstborn children.

1985 N.Y. Times 7 July c19/4 There are enough spilled guts and severed limbs to satisfy the bloodthirstiest fan.

2008 S. Faulks Devil may Care vii. 91 My mother was from the Qashai tribe, widely regarded as the most treacherous, bloodthirsty and ruthless people in Persia.

1749 J. Cleland Case of Unfortunate B. Penlez 30 Was it not more probable, that bloodthirstily determin'd..to fix his grievous Complaint somewhere,..he was very indifferent who it was he hang'd by his Oath?

1880 J. Hawthorne Ellice Quentin II. 12 Gentlemen..wore long swords with basket hilts, and were bloodthirstily polite in using the same.

2009 B. Merkle White Horse King v. 121 The spectacle of..maniacal nude warriors slashing bloodthirstily through the Saxon shieldwall created a powerful sensation of despair in the Wessex troop.