butcher

[ booch-er ]

/ ˈbʊtʃ ər /

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See synonyms for butcher on Thesaurus.com

noun

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.

OTHER WORDS FOR butcher

3 killer, cutthroat.

See synonyms for butcher on Thesaurus.com

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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 buck¹) + -ier-ier² (see -er²)

synonym study for butcher

5, 6. See slaughter.

OTHER WORDS FROM butcher

butch·er·er, nounun·butch·ered, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use butcher in a sentence

Beijing claims to oppose the illicit traffic in the tusks of elephants butchered by poachers.
China’s Blood Ivory Bazaar|Brendon Hong|June 30, 2014|DAILY BEAST
And treated with more dignity and kindness than the viable newborns he butchered and discarded.
Kermit Gosnell Found Guilty of Murdering Three Babies|Megan McArdle|May 13, 2013|DAILY BEAST
You go to see hotties getting butchered in new and creative ways.
Whatever Happened to ‘Prison Break’ Hunk Wentworth Miller?|Ramin Setoodeh|March 6, 2013|DAILY BEAST
We buy meat for ourselves that is humanely raised and butchered (when we can).
Why I Choose to Be Child-Free: Readers Share Their Stories|Harry Siegel|February 27, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Besides plunder, raiders butchered people, often in the most brutal fashion.
The Bin Laden of His Day? A New Biography of Geronimo|Marc Wortman|December 5, 2012|DAILY BEAST
She looked so delighted, and yet it made me sick to think of his having been butchered so.
A Confederate Girl's Diary|Sarah Margan Dawson
Even a few, who were saved by the soldiers, satiated with blood, were next day miserably butchered by orders from the general.
The History of England in Three Volumes, Vol.I., Part E.|David Hume
He would have butchered another ox, but as the boat would now hold no more, Duff with difficulty made him stop.
Ralph Granger's Fortunes|William Perry Brown
Houses were burned, plantations destroyed and the inhabitants butchered.
The Indian: On the Battle-Field and in the Wigwam|John Frost
The men were all butchered, and eighty women and children were sent to join those in a house near the Nana.
A History of the Nineteenth Century, Year by Year|Edwin Emerson

British Dictionary definitions for butcher

butcher

/ (ˈbʊtʃə) /

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 (tr)

to slaughter or dress (animals) for meat

to kill indiscriminately or brutally

to make a mess of; botch; ruin

Word Origin for butcher

C13: from Old French bouchier, from bouc he-goat, probably of Celtic origin; see buck 1; compare Welsh bwch he-goat

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

butcher

OTHER WORDS FOR butcher

Origin of butcher

synonym study for butcher

OTHER WORDS FROM butcher

Words related to butcher

How to use butcher in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for butcher

Word Origin for butcher