Bloodshot means red in the white part of the eye. Tiny vessels showing, and a face that has not slept.
The word is used of eyes and nothing else at all, which makes it unusually specific. It tells a story rather than just a colour, since bloodshot eyes suggest tiredness, crying, drink or long hours staring at a screen, and readers pick up the cause from the context. It is written as one word and it has no verb form. English also has red-rimmed, which does much the same work with a slightly softer feel.
1adjectivebloodshotOf eyes, red because the small blood vessels are inflamed.
“He arrived bloodshot and unshaven.”
From blood + shot.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in Body & Health, A Man Called Ove
First appears in chapter 39 of A Man Called Ove.
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