noun destruction of life, as in war or murder; slaughter. the shedding of blood by injury, wound, etc. nounslaughter; killing n.also blood-shed, c.1500, "the shedding of (one's) blood," from verbal phrase (attested in late Old English), from blood (n.) + shed (v.). The sense of "slaughter" is much older (early 13c., implied in bloodshedding).