late 14c., "to enumerate, assign numerals to successively and in order; repeat the numerals in order," also "to reckon among, include," from Old French conter "to count, add up," also "tell a story," from Latin computare "to count, sum up, reckon together," from com "with, together" (see com-) + putare "to reckon," originally "to prune," from PIE root *pau- (2) "to cut, strike, stamp."
Intransitive sense "be of value or worth" is from 1857. Related: Counted; counting. Modern French differentiates compter "to count" and conter "to tell," but they are cognates. To count on "rely or depend upon" is from 1640s. To count against (transitive) "to be to the disadvantage of" is by 1888. To count (someone) in "consider (someone) a participant or supporter" is from 1857; count (someone) out in the opposite sense "leave out of consideration" is from 1854.
title of nobility in some continental nations, corresponding to English earl, c. 1300, from Anglo-French counte "count, earl" (Old French conte), from Latin comitem (nominative comes) "companion, attendant," the Roman term for a provincial governor, from com "with" (see com-) + stem of ire "to go" (from PIE root *ei- "to go"). The term was used in Anglo-French to render Old English eorl, but the word was never truly naturalized and mainly was used with reference to foreign titles.
In ancient Rome and the Roman empire, [a comes was] a companion of or attendant upon a great person; hence, the title of an adjutant to a proconsul or the like, afterward specifically of the immediate personal counselors of the emperor, and finally of many high officers, the most important of whom were the prototypes of the medieval counts. [Century Dictionary]
early 14c., "a counting, a calculation," also "an account of money or property;" late 15c., "the total number, the total counted," from Anglo-French counte, Old French conte "a count, a reckoning, calculations," from conter "to count, add up," from Latin computare "to count, sum up, reckon together" (see compute).
Meaning "estimation, esteem, consideration" is from late 15c. In law, "each charge in an indictment," from 1580s. In boxing, "the counting by the referee of the 10 seconds allowed a fallen fighter to get up again," by 1902. In baseball and softball, "the number of strikes and balls thrown to a batter in a turn at the plate," by 1909.
Old English blod "blood, fluid which circulates in the arteries and veins," from Proto-Germanic *blodam "blood" (source also of Old Frisian blod, Old Saxon blôd, Old Norse bloð, Middle Dutch bloet, Dutch bloed, Old High German bluot, German Blut, Gothic bloþ), according to some sources from PIE *bhlo-to-, perhaps meaning "to swell, gush, spurt," or "that which bursts out" (compare Gothic bloþ "blood," bloma "flower"), from suffixed form of root *bhel- (3) "to thrive, bloom." But Boutkan finds no certain IE etymology and assumes a non-IE origin.
There seems to have been an avoidance in Germanic, perhaps from taboo, of other PIE words for "blood," such as *esen- (source of poetic Greek ear, Old Latin aser, Sanskrit asrk, Hittite eshar); also *krew-, which seems to have had a sense of "blood outside the body, gore from a wound" (source of Latin cruour "blood from a wound," Greek kreas "meat"), but which came to mean simply "blood" in the Balto-Slavic group and some other languages.
Inheritance and relationship senses (also found in Latin sanguis, Greek haima) emerged in English by mid-13c. The meanings "person of one's family, race, kindred; offspring, one who inherits the blood of another" are late 14c. As the fluid of life (and the presumed seat of the passions), blood has stood for "temper of mind, natural disposition" since c. 1300 and been given many figurative extensions. The slang meaning "hot spark, a man of fire" [Johnson] is from 1560s. Blood pressure is attested from 1862. Blood money is from 1530s; originally money paid for causing the death of another.
Blood type is from 1928. That there were different types of human blood was discovered c. 1900 during early experiments in transfusion. To get blood from a stone "do the impossible" is from 1660s. Expression blood is thicker than water is attested by 1803, in reference to family ties of those separated by distance. New (or fresh) blood, in reference to new members of an organization or group, especially ones bringing new ideas and fresh vigor or strength, is from 1880.
1590s, "to smear or stain with blood;" 1620s, "to cause to bleed," from blood (n.). Meaning "to give (a hunting animal) its first taste of blood" is from 1781. Related: Blooded; blooding.
1809 in reference to the blood that flows in the veins of the old and aristocratic families of Spain, translating Spanish sangre azul, claimed by certain families of Castile that held themselves uncontaminated by Moorish or Jewish admixture; the term probably is from the notion of the visible veins of people of fair complexion. In reference to English families by 1827. As a noun, "member of an old and aristocratic family," by 1877. See blue (adj.1) + blood (n.).
also bloodcurdling, figurative, "chilling the blood; causing thrills of fear or horror," 1817, from blood (n.) + present participle of curdle. Also formerly with a noun form, bloodcurdler "incident which freezes the blood," especially "sensational story," 1877, slang; also in use in this sense was blood-freezer (1886).
