Butcher

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈbÊŠtʃ.É™(ɹ)/
• US IPA: /ˈbÊŠt͡ʃ.Éš/
• Rhymes: -ÊŠtʃə(ɹ)

Origin

From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman boucher, from Old French bouchier ("goat slaughterer"), from bouc ("goat"), of origin. More at buck.

Full definition of butcher

Noun

1. A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
• 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, , Chapter I,He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days...
2. (by extension) A brutal or indiscriminate killer.
• ShakespeareButcher 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

• butcherdom
• butcher's hook
• pork butcher

Verb

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

• (slaughter (animals)) kill, slaughter
• (kill brutally) massacre, slay
• (ruin, often to the point of defamation) murder