butcher
butcher Lexical Profile
butcher Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A tradesperson whose occupation is to slaughter livestock, dress their flesh, or cut up and sell meat in a shop.
"She asked the local butcher to recommend a tender cut of beef for the Sunday roast."
A person who kills people indiscriminately, brutally, or in large numbers.
"Historians condemned the ruthless commander as a butcher for his treatment of the civilian population."
• verb
To slaughter and dress an animal for food or market, or to cut up an animal carcass into retail joints and portions.
"The culinary students learned how to properly butcher a whole chicken before preparing the stock."
To ruin, spoil, or botch a performance, language, or piece of work through clumsiness or incompetence (informal).
"I always butcher the pronunciation of that French phrase whenever I try to say it aloud."
To kill people ruthlessly, brutally, or in large numbers.
"Invading forces threatened to butcher the defenders if the fortress did not surrender before dawn."
• Rhymes for butcher
Word Origin & Etymology
Borrowed in the 13th century from Anglo-Norman and Old French 'bochier', originally meaning a slaughterer or dealer in goat's flesh, derived from 'boc' (he-goat), which itself is of Frankish or Celtic origin.