abattoir

[ ab-uh-twahr, ab-uh-twahr ]

/ ˈæb əˌtwɑr, ˌæb əˈtwɑr /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR abattoir ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a slaughterhouse.

Nearby words

abate, abatement, abatis, abator, abattage, abattoir, abaxial, abaya, abb, abba, abba-dabba

Origin of abattoir

1810–20; < French, equivalent to abatt(re) to slaughter (see abate) + -oir -ory²

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for abattoir

The abattoir was being used as a distribution plant for the meat of cattle slaughtered outside the city.
What Intolerant Buddhist Monks Are Doing to Sri Lanka|Kapil Komireddi|April 12, 2013|DAILY BEAST
A view down into the wild, Art Deco abattoir now called the 1933 Center in Shanghai.
A Slaughterhouse with Style|Blake Gopnik|October 3, 2012|DAILY BEAST
Shall I to the abattoir and ask the slayer of oxen for a steak?
Kentucky in American Letters, v. 1 of 2|John Wilson Townsend
The still hunting of the natives has all the romance and danger attending the slaughter of sheep in an abattoir.
In the Wilderness|Charles Dudley Warner

Have you ever seen a herd of cattle being driven to abattoir on a fine May morning?
One Man's Initiation--1917|John Dos Passos
It was only a scratch and he had been knocked down like a beef in an abattoir by an unseen enemy, on whom he could not lay hands!
The Last Shot|Frederick Palmer
Its position, near a small ravine in which runs a brook, may lead us to suppose that here was the abattoir of the Roman army.
History of Julius Caesar Vol. 2 of 2|Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, 1808-1873.

British Dictionary definitions for abattoir

abattoir

/ (ˈæbəˌtwɑː) /

noun

another name for slaughterhouse

Word Origin for abattoir

C19: French, from abattre to fell

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012