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.
Abattoirs, butchers and meat processors are set to employ prisoners and ex-inmates to help plug labour shortages.
From BBC • Aug. 23, 2021
Abattoirs effectively face a choice between causing physical or social distress to the animals, but over a longer period of time for the latter option.
From BBC • Jul. 4, 2018
Nice-Matin newspaper said on Twitter that police were searching the attacker's home in the Nice neighborhood of Abattoirs.
From Reuters • Jul. 14, 2016
Abattoirs and meat processing plants based all over Europe, from England and France to Poland and Romania.
From Newsweek • Feb. 19, 2013
There are five public Abattoirs - within the walls, though in the suburbs - and in these all the slaughtering for the city must be performed.
From Reprinted Pieces by Dickens, Charles
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.
