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
Synonym Usage
See slaughter.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
butchersimple
-
butcherssimple
-
have butcheredperfect
-
has butcheredperfect
-
am butcheringprogressive
-
are butcheringprogressive
-
is butcheringprogressive
-
have been butcheringperfect progressive
-
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
Looking to grow your vocabulary? Check out this interactive, curated word list from our team of English language specialists at Vocabulary.com – one of over 17,000 lists we've built to help learners worldwide!
"Zlateh the Goat"
Interested in learning more words like this one? Our team at Vocabulary.com has got you covered! You can review flashcards, quiz yourself, practice spelling, and more – and it's all completely free to use!
Selection Vocabulary 1, Unit 6
Want to remember this word for good? Start your learning journey today with our library of interactive, themed word lists built by the experts at Vocabulary.com – we'll help you make the most of your study time!
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:
"Store closed", reads the sign next to Alina's butcher shop.
From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026
My dad was a butcher, my mother a butcher’s helper and then a junior-high-school teacher after my father died.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
The second stop is the surplus meat section, tucked in an unassuming refrigerator beside the butcher counter.
From Salon ● May 22, 2026
The WNO formed during the Second World War, with 60 amateur singers from across south Wales including miners, teachers, railway workers and even a butcher coming together.
From BBC ● Apr. 18, 2026
Willem gives a loud sigh, squatting to the ground in mock annoyance with his bicycle chain, while really taking the time to observe the butcher shop.
From "Girl in the Blue Coat" by Monica Hesse
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 butchers identified with one another as a brotherhood.
From "A Few Red Drops: The Chicago Race Riot of 1919" by Claire Hartfield
Add to the fact that they butchered a clutch of chances in last year's loss at Twickenham and there is plenty to put right for France.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 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
The 1987 movie features Schwarzenegger’s Dutch leading a multiracial band of bros on a black ops mission to eliminate guerrillas in a Central American jungle, only to be butchered by an invisible stalker from space.
From Salon ● Nov. 12, 2025
The LaPrele site in Converse County preserves the remains of a killed or scavenged sub-adult mammoth and an associated camp occupied during the time the animal was butchered almost 13,000 years ago.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 27, 2024
A couple of times each year the family bought a side of butchered beef and stored it in a large freezer in their basement.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
The site also contained stone tools along with the remains of elephants and other animals, suggesting the area was once used for butchering prey near the edge of an ancient lake.
From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026
He then breaks into song, trying his hand at the chant and butchering the delivery.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 27, 2026
One term for the scams is pig butchering, because the scammers “fatten up” their targets by entangling them in romantic relationships online and dangling bogus financial schemes, then “butcher” them by disappearing with their money.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025
The fleecing of Kevin, who ProPublica agreed to identify by first name only, was a textbook example of pig butchering.
From Salon ● Jun. 26, 2025
Their own retainers made a busy sight with houseboys mixing bowls of water and wine, or sopping water up in sponges, wiping tables to be placed about in hall, or butchering whole carcasses for roasting.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
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.
