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butchery

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butchery¹

  • /ˈbʊt͡ʃəɹi/

Where it comes from

From Middle English bocherie, from Old French. See butcher for more.

noun butcheries

  1. countable, uncountable The butchering of meat. (coordinate in precise usage referring to animal carcasses)
  2. countable, uncountable A butcher's shop; a meat market.

    Similar: butcher shop, butcher's

  3. countable, uncountable The cruel, ruthless killings of humans, as if at a slaughterhouse. The tyrannous and bloody act is done,— The most arch deed of piteous massacre That ever yet this land was guilty of. Dighton and Forrest, who I did suborn To do this piece of ruthless butchery

    Similar: slaughter, slaughtering

  4. countable, rare, uncountable An abattoir. 1899 On the third Friday Jimmie was dropped at the door of the school from the doctor's buggy. The other children, notably those who had already passed over the mountain of distress, looked at him with glee, seeing in him another lamb brought to butchery. — Stephen Crane, Making an Orator.

    Similar: slaughterhouse, slaughtery

  5. countable, uncountable A disastrous effort, an atrocious failure. I often wondered how Walcott the director could stand listening to some of his marvelous words and phrases being subjected to verbal butchery as sometimes occurred when a player did not understand what he was speaking or reading.
  6. countable, uncountable Surgery that was botched or is asserted by the speaker to have been so.

butchery²

  • /ˈbʊt͡ʃəɹi/

noun butcheries

  1. countable, slang, uncountable The stereotypical behaviors and accoutrements of a butch lesbian.

Translations

Every language

noun cruel, ruthless killing of humans

Italianomassacro, carneficina

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Cite this
MLA

"butchery." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/butchery. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

butchery. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/butchery

Chicago

"butchery." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/butchery.

BibTeX
@misc{butchery_2026,
  title = {butchery},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/butchery},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}