butcher
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also Butcher
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
From Middle English, from Anglo-Norman boucher, from Old French bouchier (“goat slaughterer”), from bouc (“goat”), of Germanic origin. More at buck.
[edit] Pronunciation
[edit] Noun
butcher (plural butchers)
- A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days...
- 1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, The House Behind the Cedars, Chapter I,
- A brutal or indiscriminate killer.
- Weyler was referred to as a "Butcher" by yellow journalists.
- (Cockney rhyming slang, via butcher's hook) A look.
- A person who sells candy, drinks, etc. in theatres, trains, circuses , etc. (old, informal).
[edit] Derived terms
[edit] Translations
a person who prepares and sells meat
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a brutal or indiscriminate killer
[edit] Verb
butcher (third-person singular simple present butchers, present participle butchering, simple past and past participle butchered)
- (transitive) To slaughter animals and prepare meat for market.
- (transitive) To kill brutally.
- (transitive) To ruin something, often to the point of defamation.
- The band at that bar really butchered "Hotel California".
[edit] Translations
To slaughter animals and prepare meat for market
To kill brutally
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To ruin something
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