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to lose blood from the vascular system, either internally into the body or externally through a natural orifice or break in the skin:
to bleed from the mouth.
(of injured tissue, excrescences, etc.) to exude blood:
a wart that is bleeding.
(of a plant) to exude sap, resin, etc., from a wound.
(of dye or paint) to run or become diffused:
All the colors bled when the dress was washed.
(of a liquid) to ooze or flow out.
to feel pity, sorrow, or anguish:
My heart bleeds for you. A nation bleeds for its dead heroes.
to suffer wounds or death, as in battle:
The soldiers bled for the cause.
(of a broadcast signal) to interfere with another signal:
CB transmissions bleeding over into walkie-talkies.
Printing. (of printed matter) to run off the edges of a page, either by design or through mutilation caused by too close trimming.
Slang. to pay out money, as when overcharged or threatened with extortion.
Metallurgy. (of a cooling ingot or casting) to have molten metal force its way through the solidified exterior because of internal gas pressure.
to cause to lose blood, especially surgically:
Doctors no longer bleed their patients to reduce fever.
to lose or emit (blood or sap).
to drain or draw sap, water, electricity, etc., from (something):
to bleed a pipeline of excess air.
to remove trapped air from (as an automotive brake system) by opening a bleeder valve.
to obtain an excessive amount from; extort money from.
Printing.

to permit (printed illustrations or ornamentation) to run off the page or sheet.
to trim the margin of (a book or sheet) so closely as to mutilate the text or illustration.

Printing.

a sheet or page margin trimmed so as to mutilate the text or illustration.
a part thus trimmed off.

Medicine/Medical. an instance of bleeding; hemorrhage:
an intracranial bleed.
Printing. characterized by bleeding:
a bleed page.
bleed off, to draw or extract:
to bleed off sap from a maple tree; to bleed off static electricity.
bleed white. white (def 41).
Contemporary Examples

The All-American Abuse of ‘Friday Night Tykes’ Tim Teeman January 22, 2014
How Bureaucrats Let Ebola Spread to Nigeria Michael Daly August 13, 2014
Will Scandal Sink the Spanish Royal Family? Tom Sykes August 17, 2014
Did Julie Schenecker Kill Her Kids? Amy Green February 7, 2011
Inside an Oklahoma Abortion Clinic Allison Yarrow January 21, 2013

Historical Examples

The Impostor Harold Bindloss
Way of the Lawless Max Brand
Uarda, Complete Georg Ebers
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10) Maria Edgeworth
Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Work Projects Administration

verb bleeds, bleeding, bled
(intransitive) to lose or emit blood
(transitive) to remove or draw blood from (a person or animal)
(intransitive) to be injured or die, as for a cause or one’s country
(of plants) to exude (sap or resin), esp from a cut
(transitive) (informal) to obtain relatively large amounts of money, goods, etc, esp by extortion
(transitive) to draw liquid or gas from (a container or enclosed system): to bleed the hydraulic brakes
(intransitive) (of dye or paint) to run or become mixed, as when wet
to print or be printed so that text, illustrations, etc, run off the trimmed page
(transitive) to trim (the edges of a printed sheet) so closely as to cut off some of the printed matter
(intransitive) (civil engineering, building trades) (of a mixture) to exude (a liquid) during compaction, such as water from cement
bleed someone or something dry, to extort gradually all the resources of a person or thing
one’s heart bleeds, used to express sympathetic grief, but often used ironically
noun
(printing)

an illustration or sheet trimmed so that some matter is bled
(as modifier): a bleed page

(printing) the trimmings of a sheet that has been bled
v.

In addition to the idiom beginning with bleed