man of blood—(arch.) smb. guilty of bloodshed; a man responsible for the murder or death of any one:
- David was called a man of blood not because he enraged in wars which were legitimate but on account of Uriah, whose blood he criminally shed.
Note: The expression does not correlate in meaning with the phrase man of blue blood—a man who comes of an ancient family; an aristocrat:
- Is he a man of blue blood? We are worshipping him because of his ideas, what he stood for and what he preached.
man of blood and iron—(originally of Prince Bismarck) a man who advocates the use of brute force as distinguished from diplomacy:
- One such victory involved Omar ibn al-Khattab, who was regarded as “a man of blood and iron” and a bitter opponent of the new faith.