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Webster 1913 Edition


Butcher

Butch′er

(bụch′ẽr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
bochere
,
bochier
, OF.
bochier
, F.
boucher
, orig., slaughterer of buck goats, fr. OF.
boc
, F.
bouc
, a buck goat; of German or Celtic origin. See
Buck
the animal.]
1.
One who slaughters animals, or dresses their flesh for market; one whose occupation it is to kill animals for food.
2.
A slaughterer; one who kills in large numbers, or with unusual cruelty; one who causes needless loss of life, as in battle.
Butcher of an innocent child.”
Shak.
Butcher’s meat
,
such flesh of animals slaughtered for food as is sold for that purpose by butchers, as beef, mutton, lamb, and pork.

Butch′er

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Butchered
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Butchering
.]
1.
To kill or slaughter (animals) for food, or for market;
as, to
butcher
hogs
.
2.
To murder, or kill, especially in an unusually bloody or barbarous manner.
Macaulay.
[Ithocles] was murdered, rather
butchered
.
Ford.
☞ The
Lanius excubitor
is the common butcher bird of Europe. In England, the bearded tit is sometimes called the
lesser butcher bird
. The American species are
Lanius borealis
, or
northern butcher bird
, and
Lanius Ludovicianus
or
loggerhead shrike
. The name
butcher bird
is derived from its habit of suspending its prey impaled upon thorns, after killing it.

Webster 1828 Edition


Butcher

BUTCH'ER

, n.
1.
One who slaughters animals for market; or one whose occupation is to kill animals for the table. The word may and often does include the person who cuts up and sells meat.
2.
One who kills men, or commands troops to kill them; one who sheds, or causes to be shed human blood in abundance; applied to princes and conquerors who delight in war, or are remarkable for destroying human life.

BUTCH'ER

,
Verb.
T.
To kill or slaughter animals for food, or for market.
1.
To murder; but emphatically applied to murder committed with unusual cruelty, or circumstances of uncommon barbarity.

Definition 2024


Butcher

Butcher

See also: butcher

English

Proper noun

Butcher

  1. An occupational surname for a butcher.

butcher

butcher

See also: Butcher

English

Noun

butcher (plural butchers)

  1. A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
  2. (by extension) A brutal or indiscriminate killer.
    • Shakespeare
      Butcher of an innocent child.
  3. (Cockney rhyming slang, from butcher's hook) A look.
  4. (informal, obsolete) A person who sells candy, drinks, etc. in theatres, trains, circuses, etc.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

butcher (third-person singular simple present butchers, present participle butchering, simple past and past participle butchered)

  1. (transitive) To slaughter (animals) and prepare (meat) for market.
  2. (transitive) To kill brutally.
  3. (transitive) To ruin (something), often to the point of defamation.
    The band at that bar really butchered "Hotel California".
Synonyms
Translations

Etymology 2

butch + -er

Adjective

butcher

  1. comparative form of butch: more butch
    • 2003, Alisa Solomon, Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theatre and Gender (page 170)
      Weaver and Shaw dance together and almost immediately another butch, an even butcher butch (Leslie Feinberg), cuts in to dance with Shaw (though Shaw would kill me if she heard me call someone a butcher butch).