Butcher

• POS: Noun, Verb (transitive)
• HYPHEN: butch=er

CIDE DICTIONARY

Butcher, n. [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.].

•  One who slaughters animals, or dresses their flesh for market; one whose occupation it is to kill animals for food.  [1913 Webster]
•  A slaughterer; one who kills in large numbers, or with unusual cruelty; one who causes needless loss of life, as in battle.  Shak.  [1913 Webster]

Butcher's meat, such flesh of animals slaughtered for food as is sold for that purpose by butchers, as beef, mutton, lamb, and pork.

Butcher, v. t. 

•  To kill or slaughter (animals) for food, or for market; as, to butcher hogs.  [1913 Webster]
•  To murder, or kill, especially in an unusually bloody or barbarous manner.  Macaulay.  [1913 Webster]

  "[Ithocles] was murdered, rather butchered."  [1913 Webster]
•  to bungle badly; to botch; -- used also when an object is damaged (literally or figuratively) in an activity; as, the new choir butchered the hymn.  [PJC]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

Butcher, n. & v.
--n.
1 a a person whose trade is dealing in meat. b a person who slaughters animals for food.
2 a person who kills or has people killed indiscriminately or brutally.
--v.tr.
1 slaughter or cut up (an animal) for food.
2 kill (people) wantonly or cruelly.
3 ruin (esp. a job or a musical composition) through incompetence.

Idiom

the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker people of all kinds or trades. butcher-bird a shrike of the genus Lanius, native to Australia and New Guinea, with a long hook-tipped bill for catching prey. butcher's rhymingsl. a look (short for butcher's hook). butcher's-broom a low spiny-leaved evergreen shrub, Ruscus aculeatus. butcher's meat slaughtered fresh meat excluding game, poultry, and bacon.

Derivative

butcherly adv.

Etymology

ME f. OF bo(u)chier f. boc BUCK(1)

THESAURUS

Butcher

Cain, amputate, annihilate, annihilator, apache, assassin, assassinator, assault, attack, ax, baggage man, bakehead, baker, barbarize, batter, be all thumbs, bisect, bloodletter, bloodshedder, blunder, blunder away, blunder into, blunder on, blunder upon, boggle, bollix up, bookdealer, bookseller, botch, brakeman, brakie, bravo, brutalize, bumble, bungle, bungler, burker, burn, button man, cannibal, carry on, carve, chandler, chop, cleave, clothing merchant, commit a gaffe, commit carnage, commit genocide, commit mass murder, conductor, confectioner, cut, cut away, cut in two, cut off, cutthroat, decimate, depopulate, desperado, destroy, destroyer, dichotomize, disembowel, dismember, dispatcher, dissever, draper, drysalter, eradicator, excise, executioner, exterminate, exterminator, faux pas, fireman, fishmonger, fishwife, fissure, florist, flounder, footplate man, footwear merchant, foul up, fruiterer, fuck up, fumble, furnisher, furrier, garroter, gash, go on, gorilla, greengrocer, grocer, groceryman, guard, gun, gunman, gunsel, haberdasher, hack, halve, hammer, hardwareman, hatchet man, head-hunter, hew, hit man, homicidal maniac, homicide, incise, ironmonger, jeweler, jigsaw, kill, killer, lance, lay waste, lineman, liquidate, liquor merchant, loot, louse up, lumber, man-eater, man-killer, manslayer, mar, massacre, massacrer, matador, maul, mess up, miscue, muddle, muff, mug, murder, murder wholesale, murderer, newsdealer, pare, perfumer, pesticide, pillage, play havoc with, poison, poisoner, porter, poulterer, prune, rage, railroad man, railroader, ramp, rampage, rant, rape, rave, redcap, rend, riot, ripper, rive, roar, ruin, sack, saddler, savage, saw, scissor, screw up, sever, slash, slaughter, slaughterer, slay, slay en masse, slayer, slice, slip, slit, smoke agent, snip, sow chaos, split, spoil, stationer, stationmaster, stoker, storm, strangler, stumble, sunder, switchman, tear, tear around, terrorize, thug, tobacconist, torpedo, trainboy, trainman, trainmaster, trigger man, trip, vandalize, vintner, violate, whittle, wine merchant, wreck, yardman, yardmaster

ROGET THESAURUS

Butcher

Evil doer

N evil doer, evil worker, wrongdoer, mischief-maker, marplot, oppressor, tyrant, destroyer, Vandal, iconoclast, firebrand, incendiary, fire bug, pyromaniac, anarchist, communist, terrorist, savage, brute, ruffian, barbarian, semibarbarian, caitiff, desperado, Apache, hoodlum, hood, plug-ugly, Red Skin, tough, Mohawk, Mo-hock, Mo-hawk, bludgeon man, bully, rough, hooligan, larrikin, dangerous classes, ugly customer, thief, cockatrice, scorpion, hornet, snake, viper, adder, snake in the grass, serpent, cobra, asp, rattlesnake, anaconda, canker-worm, wire-worm, locust, Colorado beetle, alacran, alligator, caymon, crocodile, mosquito, mugger, octopus, torpedo, bane, cutthroat, cannibal, anthropophagus, anthropophagist, bloodsucker, vampire, ogre, ghoul, gorilla, vulture, gyrfalcon, gerfalcon, wild beast, tiger, hyena, butcher, hangman, blood-hound, hell- hound, sleuth-hound, catamount, cougar, jaguar, puma, hag, hellhag, beldam, Jezebel, monster, fiend, devil incarnate, demon in human shape, Frankenstein's monster, harpy, siren, Furies, Eumenides, Hun, Attila, scourge of the human race, faenum habet in cornu.

Killing

N killing, homicide, manslaughter, murder, assassination, trucidation, iccusion, effusion of blood, blood, blood shed, gore, slaughter, carnage, butchery, battue, massacre, fusillade, noyade, thuggery, Thuggism, deathblow, finishing stroke, coup de grace, quietus, execution, judicial murder, martyrdom, butcher, slayer, murderer, Cain, assassin, terrorist, cutthroat, garroter, bravo, Thug, Moloch, matador, sabreur, guet-a-pens, gallows, executioner, man-eater, apache, hatchet man, highbinder, regicide, parricide, matricide, fratricide, infanticide, feticide, foeticide, uxoricide, vaticide, suicide, felo de se, hara-kiri, suttee, Juggernath, immolation, auto da fe, holocaust, suffocation, strangulation, garrote, hanging, lapidation, deadly weapon, Aceldama, slaughtering, phthisozoics, sport, sporting, the chase, venery, hunting, coursing, shooting, fishing, pig- sticking, sportsman, huntsman, fisherman, hunter, Nimrod, slaughterhouse, meat packing plant, shambles, abattoir, fatal accident, violent death, casualty, killing, murderous, slaughterous, sanguinary, sanguinolent, blood stained, blood thirsty, homicidal, red handed, bloody, bloody minded, ensanguined, gory, thuggish, mortal, fatal, lethal, dead, deadly, mortiferous, lethiferous, unhealthy internecine, suicidal, sporting, piscatorial, piscatory, in at the death, assassination has never changed the history of the.

VB kill, put to death, slay, shed blood, murder, assassinate, butcher, slaughter, victimize, immolate, massacre, take away life, deprive of life, make away with, put an end to, despatch, dispatch, burke, settle, do for, strangle, garrote, hang, throttle, choke, stifle, suffocate, stop the breath, smother, asphyxiate, drown, saber, cut down, cut to pieces, cut the throat, jugulate, stab, run through the body, bayonet, eviscerate, put to the sword, put to the edge of the sword, shoot dead, blow one's brains out, brain, knock on the head, stone, lapidate, give a deathblow, deal a deathblow, give a quietus, give a coupe de grace, behead, bowstring, electrocute, gas, hunt, shoot, cut off, nip in the bud, launch into eternity, send to one's last account, sign one's death warrant, strike the death knell of, give no quarter, pour out blood like water, decimate, run amuck, wade knee deep in blood, imbrue one's hands in blood, die a violent death, welter in one's blood, dash out one's brains, blow out one's brains, commit suicide, kill oneself, make away with oneself, put an end to oneself, put an end to it all.