butcher
Americannoun
-
a retail or wholesale dealer in meat.
-
a person who slaughters certain animals, or who dresses the flesh of animals, fish, or poultry, for food or market.
-
a person guilty of brutal or indiscriminate slaughter or murder.
-
a vendor who hawks newspapers, candy, beverages, etc., as on a train, at a stadium, etc.
verb (used with object)
-
to slaughter or dress (animals, fish, or poultry) for market.
-
to kill indiscriminately or brutally.
-
to bungle; botch.
to butcher a job.
noun
-
a retailer of meat
-
a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market
-
an indiscriminate or brutal murderer
-
a person who destroys, ruins, or bungles something
verb
-
to slaughter or dress (animals) for meat
-
to kill indiscriminately or brutally
-
to make a mess of; botch; ruin
Related Words
See slaughter.
Other Word Forms
- butcherer noun
- unbutchered adjective
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 ( -er 2 )
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.
Illegal skin lightening products are being sold in butchers and specialist food shops across the UK as well as online, a watchdog has warned.
From BBC
Most are sold at larger markets where they are purchased and fed to slaughter weight, while around 15 percent is processed nearby and sold at Stem's butcher shop.
From Barron's
Fears that artificial intelligence products will butcher the business models of software-as-a-service companies has caused savage selling in their stocks.
From MarketWatch
Podedworna, 40, of Boyer Street in Derby, who was a "skilled butcher", had denied murder but was found guilty by a jury on Tuesday.
From BBC
Police discovered the defendant had previously been employed as a "skilled butcher", and her work involved "deboning, and portioning out turkey carcasses using a large knife".
From BBC
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.
