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
-
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
-
butcherssimple
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have butcheredperfect
-
has butcheredperfect
-
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:
The bread store was next to the bakery, and the butcher shop’s floor was thick with sawdust.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026
Just when you think you’ve made it through, the exhibition has one last gruesome touch: To escape, you have to push your way through a set of bloody butcher curtains.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2026
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
The man from the butcher shop had tricked the cap’n outta fifty dollars, quit his job, and hightailed it to who-know-where.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
The volunteers “were butchers, bakers, candlestick makers who then fought fire when the fire bell rang,” Mr. Winkle says.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 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
He remembers about six butchers being in competition in Saltcoats at that stage.
From BBC ● Feb. 28, 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 frightening thing was, the rats looked more appetizing than most of what the butchers were selling.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
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
She says she has been left with a massive scar which has left her feeling "butchered".
From BBC ● Nov. 28, 2025
I thought of all my friends who had their name butchered as children and even adults — “Joe-zay,” “Josie” or pronounced correctly but in an exaggerated tone.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 24, 2025
Salva could hardly wait for it to be skinned and butchered and roasted.
From "A Long Walk to Water" by Linda Sue Park
Cornell University has clarified that its dorm kitchens are for cooking food — not butchering bears.
From Salon ● Aug. 8, 2026
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
Lots of folks are going to blame USC and coach Lincoln Riley for butchering a Knute Rockne-born tradition that accounted for 78 straight games, not counting 2020, the COVID-19 year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 22, 2025
Anybody who was husband fodder for a country gal like Tansy would have to stand up to butchering day.
From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck
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