Bloodmeal

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A refined organic fertilizer produced from dehydrated blood, enhancing soil fertility through its rich nitrogen content An agricultural amendment derived from blood that supplies essential nutrients, especially nitrogen, for optimal plant health A potent soil additive made from processed animal blood, delivering critical nutrients necessary for robust plant growth
2. A natural fertilizer created by drying and grinding animal blood to provide plants with essential nitrogen
3. A type of organic soil enhancer derived from processed blood, supplying nutrients that support healthy plant development

Etymology: "Bloodmeal" is a plain compound of "blood" and "meal," and its history is simply the sum of its parts. "Meal" in the sense of finely ground grain or other material goes back to Old English "melu," which originally meant ground flour, and the same root gave us words for grinding and milling. Pairing it with "blood" produced a term for anything ground into a powder, here dried animal blood. The fertilizer sense is the one that gives the word its character. Ground blood was valued as a source of nitrogen, and the powder was used on gardens and fields for that purpose. Because the product is literally the animal's blood reduced to dry granules, the compound describes the material exactly, with no figurative extension needed.