slaughterhouse

[slaw-ter-hous]

noun

plural

slaughterhouses 

1. a building or place where animals are butchered for food; abattoir.

slaughterhouse

/ ˈslɔːtəˌhaʊs /

noun

1. a place where animals are butchered for food; abattoir

Word History and Origins

Origin of slaughterhouse¹

1325–75; Middle English slautherhus; slaughter, house

Example Sentences

She thought of the dreaded figure of Mr. Alpo, from the Giddy-Yap, Rainbow! tales, who disposed of unwanted ponies by taking them to the slaughterhouse.

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She knew that London was a large, bustling, and confusing city, and that one wrong turn might send them wandering down dark cobblestone streets that dead-ended at smelly slaughterhouses and riverfront establishments of ill repute.

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The story “After the Haiku Period,” about batty twin sisters who lay siege to a slaughterhouse, reprises the material.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

It gave no causality figures, but said medical facilities in the city had been "transformed into human slaughterhouses".

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Among his early legitimate jobs was at a local slaughterhouse dispatching animals with a bolt gun.

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Related Words

• abattoir