butcher

American  

[booch-er] / ˈbʊtʃ ər /

noun

1. a retail or wholesale dealer in meat.

2. a person who slaughters certain animals, or who dresses the flesh of animals, fish, or poultry, for food or market.

3. a person guilty of brutal or indiscriminate slaughter or murder.

   Synonyms:

   cutthroat, killer

4. a vendor who hawks newspapers, candy, beverages, etc., as on a train, at a stadium, etc.

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verb (used with object)

butchers, present (3rd person singular) butchered, past participle, past butchering present participle

1. to slaughter or dress (animals, fish, or poultry) for market.

2. to kill indiscriminately or brutally.

3. to bungle; botch.

   to butcher a job.

butcher British  

/ ˈbʊtʃə /

noun

1. a retailer of meat

2. a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market

3. an indiscriminate or brutal murderer

4. a person who destroys, ruins, or bungles something

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verb

1. to slaughter or dress (animals) for meat

2. to kill indiscriminately or brutally

3. to make a mess of; botch; ruin

Synonym Usage

See slaughter.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• butcherer
  noun
• unbutchered
  adjective

Conjugated Forms

Present

• have butchered
  perfect
• has butchered
  perfect 3rd person singular
• are butchering
  progressive
• is butchering
  progressive 3rd person singular
• am butchering
  progressive 1st person singular
• butchers
  singular 3rd person
• have been butchering
  perfect progressive
• butchering
  participle
• has been butchering
  perfect progressive 3rd person singular

Past

• had butchered
  perfect
• had been butchering
  perfect progressive
• was butchering
  progressive singular
• butchered
  simple
• were butchering
  progressive plural
• butchered
  participle

Future

• will butcher
  simple
• will have butchered
  perfect
• will have been butchering
  perfect progressive
• will be butchering
  progressive

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.

Example Sentences

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

Slate’s Alexis Romero explains the court’s “head-spinning” opinion and how it manages to butcher the legal question at the heart of this case while also cherry-picking history.

From Slate • May 14, 2026

The first Palme winner, “Marty,” a romantic drama starring Ernest Borgnine as a lonely, middle-aged butcher longing for love, won the Oscar for best picture.

From Los Angeles Times • May 12, 2026

What if someone from the butcher shop, someone who overheard my talk, followed me back to Mrs. Wigginbottom’s boardinghouse?

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

Related Words

• slaughter