blood and thunder

Noun

blood and thunder

1. Violent action and language, especially of a melodramatic kind, or the representation of this, or an aggressive or bad-tempered physical confrontation, typically in a sporting context.
   • […]she could fancy how Thurston was saying to himself: "But what's the good of this? It's blood and thunder we want. The old feller's getting past his work. He must go."1920, Hugh Walpole, chapter IV, in The Captives
2. A work of fiction featuring or characterized by bloodshed and violence; a sensationally violent story, drama, etc.

Adjective

blood and thunder (not comparable)

1. (especially, action) Both melodramatically violent and aggressive; characterized by anger, or forthright ideas and expression.
   • blood-and-thunder stories
   • Not Buffalo Bill's! He gave us a jack-o'-lantern scare once upon a time, which I don't believe any of us will ever forget. We had never seen that weird species of pumpkin, and Will embroidered a blood-and-thunder narrative.1899, Helen Cody Wetmore, Zane Grey, Last of the Great Scouts

Interjection

1. (archaic, rare) Expressing anger or exasperation.
   • Strap following, with the knapsack on his back, chanced to take the other side, and, by a jolt of the carriage, pitched directly upon the stomach of the captain, who bellowed out, in a most dreadful manner, “Blood and thunder! where’s my sword?”1748, [Tobias Smollett], chapter XI, in The Adventures of Roderick Random. […], volume I, London: […] [William Strahan] for J[ohn] Osborn […], →OCLC, page 75
   • "Man the capstan! Blood and thunder!—jump!"—was the next command, and the crew sprang for the handspikes.1851 November 14, Herman Melville, Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC