abattoir
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of abattoir
1810–20; < French, equivalent to abatt ( re ) to slaughter ( see abate) + -oir -ory 2
Explanation
An abattoir is a slaughterhouse, or a place where animals are killed. It's not a word you're likely to hear or use unless you're involved in these activities. However, break abattoir into its component parts, abate + -ory, and things get a lot more interesting. -Ory is simple: it means "a place for," as in factory, laboratory, and even auditorium. Abate is more complex. Today it means "to lessen," but back when it came to English via the Old French abattre, it meant "to beat down," a meaning Old French had inherited from the Latin ad ("to") + battere ("beat"). So when you think of abattoir, you can think of the idea of "a beating," or an animal's life "abating" until it is gone.
Vocabulary lists containing abattoir
"The Briefcase," Vocabulary from the short story
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Kaffir Boy
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Sapiens
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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.
Abattoir labour shortages are being blamed on Brexit and the Covid pandemic.
From BBC • Oct. 6, 2021
No one was arrested or charged after 19 activists invaded the Carey Bros Abattoir near Warwick before dawn on Monday.
From The Guardian • Apr. 8, 2019
“This business has helped so many people,” said John Kariuki, director of Star Brilliant Donkey Export Abattoir in Naivasha.
From New York Times • Jan. 2, 2018
Robert F Kennedy Peter Sellers Henry Mancini Kitchen Whisky Abattoir What has a priest banned from a church hall because it was "not compatible" with the Catholic faith?
From BBC • Sep. 28, 2012
Nevertheless, he stood Ace High with the old Two-per-cent-a-Month up at the Abattoir known as the Farmers & Merchants' Bank.
From Ade's Fables by Ade, George
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
