butcher
Americannoun
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butchers
plural
-
a retail or wholesale dealer in meat.
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a person who slaughters certain animals, or who dresses the flesh of animals, fish, or poultry, for food or market.
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a person guilty of brutal or indiscriminate slaughter or murder.
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a vendor who hawks newspapers, candy, beverages, etc., as on a train, at a stadium, etc.
verb (used with object)
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butchers,
present (3rd person singular)
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butchered,
past participle, past
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butchering
present participle
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to slaughter or dress (animals, fish, or poultry) for market.
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to kill indiscriminately or brutally.
-
to bungle; botch.
to butcher a job.
noun
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a retailer of meat
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a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market
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an indiscriminate or brutal murderer
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a person who destroys, ruins, or bungles something
verb
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to slaughter or dress (animals) for meat
-
to kill indiscriminately or brutally
-
to make a mess of; botch; ruin
Synonym Usage
See slaughter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
butchersimple
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butcherssimple
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have butcheredperfect
-
has butcheredperfect
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am butcheringprogressive
-
are butcheringprogressive
-
is butcheringprogressive
-
have been butcheringperfect progressive
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has been butcheringperfect progressive
Past
-
butcheredsimple
-
had butcheredperfect
-
was butcheringprogressive
-
were butcheringprogressive
-
had been butcheringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of butcher
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English bocher, from Anglo-French; Old French bo(u)chier, equivalent to bo(u)c “he-goat” (from unattested Gaulish bucco-; compare Old Irish boc, Welsh bwch; akin to buck 1 ) + -ier -ier 2 ( see -er 2)
Explanation
The person whose job it is to cut up and sell meat is called a butcher. Your grandmother might go to the butcher once a week to buy pork chops. A butcher is an expert at preparing cuts of meat and poultry in a butcher shop or the meat section of a supermarket. You can also call a person whose job is slaughtering farm animals a butcher. Because this is a fairly bloody, gory occupation, the word is also used to mean a cruel, ruthless murderer. And when you really mess something up, you can also be said to butcher it — like the way you butchered that poem when you tried to recite it from memory.
Vocabulary lists containing butcher
Name That Job: Occupational Last Names
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"Zlateh the Goat"
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Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 6
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Ratko Mladic, the so-called "butcher of Bosnia" who has reportedly died at the age of either 83 or 84, had insisted he was chosen by "fate" to defend the Serb people from a Western onslaught.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Robin, aged 82, worked as a butcher in Oldbury for 68 years.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
A meat board carries half a butcher shop in sausage form.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
One French butcher offers steaks old enough to apply for a driver’s permit.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
The father sharpened the butcher knife with the whetstone he used to whet his scythe and his goose-necked brier hook in the summer when he cut brambles and young sumac in the fencerows.
From "Sounder" by William H. Armstrong
Leicestershire County Council announced the £131m road would be named in honour of the meaty treat, a speciality of the town's butchers, at a ceremony on Thursday.
From BBC ● May 14, 2026
The government decided not to back a previous proposal for more businesses including butchers and fishmongers to open on the public holiday.
From Barron's ● May 1, 2026
Local butchers and farmers have been brought together to help feed the 15,000-strong workforce.
From BBC ● Jan. 26, 2026
Manchester Farms Quail – Quail can be surprisingly tough to track down, even at specialty butchers, but Manchester Farms makes this delicious little bird totally accessible for home cooks.
From Salon ● Dec. 4, 2025
The three butchers were daubed with sweat and blood, and they were absolutely miserable.
From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White
Add to the fact that they butchered a clutch of chances in last year's loss at Twickenham and there is plenty to put right for France.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
Animal remains were also placed in the grave, including a butchered calf.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 9, 2026
Busy markets sold butchered meats and fast-wilting vegetables, horse carts clattered, children shouted, and men and women gossiped in coffeehouses and read from printed newspapers.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 6, 2026
In 2024, Shasta County agreed to pay $300,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by a 9-year-old girl and her family after sheriff’s deputies seized her goat so it could be butchered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2025
Salva could hardly wait for it to be skinned and butchered and roasted.
From "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park
Early humans often used bone implements to sharpen the cutting edges of handaxes and tools used for butchering animals.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 27, 2026
Found in the Edgcote area in Northamptonshire, it has a sharp edge likely designed for butchering animals.
From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026
We’ve come a long way from 1992, when Bill Clinton bypassed prime-time and Sunday political shows by wearing sunglasses and butchering “Heartbreak Hotel” on a saxophone on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 16, 2025
A host is also responsible for introducing every comic onstage, mentioning their credits and not butchering their name — all while hoping they actually make it on time for their spot.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2025
In the fall, some years, there was a lot of pigs and hogs for butchering.
From "Life Is So Good" by George Dawson
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