Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English - bleed

past tense and past participle bled ~ v 1 »BLOOD« a) to lose blood, especially because of an injury  (Your nose is bleeding. | bleed profusely (=bleed a lot))  (Marc lay on the ground, bleeding profusely.) b) to take some blood from someone's body in order to treat a disease 2 »MONEY« to make someone pay an unreasonable amount of money  (She bled him for every last cent. | bleed sb dry/white (=take all their money))  (developing countries that had been bled dry by massive loan repayments) 3 my heart bleeds spoken used to say that you feel a lot of sympathy for someone, but often in a joking way when you do not think someone deserves any sympathy  (You can't afford a third car? My heart bleeds!) + for  (My heart bleeds for those poor children.) 4 »AIR/LIQUID« to remove air or liquid from a system in order to make it work properly, for example from a heating system  (We need to bleed the radiators.) 5 »COLOUR« to spread from one area of cloth or paper to another  (Wash it in cold water so the colours don't bleed.)