bleeds

1. 1
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of bleed.

   The wound bleeds steadily until pressure is applied.

   A patient on blood thinners bleeds longer than usual after a minor scrape.

   Note

   The -s form carries every meaning of the verb, and those meanings divide on whether an object follows. Without one, something loses blood or spreads: a cut bleeds, ink bleeds into the paper. With one, the subject does the draining: a mechanic bleeds the pipe of air, a scheme bleeds its investors of money. The object, or its absence, tells the reader which kind is meant.

   The fountain pen bleeds through cheap paper.

   Every winter she bleeds the radiators before turning on the heat.

2. 2
   noun

   Plural of bleed.

   The designer checked all the bleeds before sending the artwork to the press.

   Repeated bleeds into the joint had damaged the cartilage over the years.

   Note

   The trade decides what this plural refers to. In medicine, bleeds are separate episodes of bleeding. In print, they are the margins that are printed and then trimmed away. In a recording studio, they are sounds a microphone picks up from the wrong source. On a turbine engine, the system for tapping hot air is normally spoken of in the plural. The role-playing meaning, where in-game feelings spill into a player's own life, is uncountable and has no plural at all.

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