Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Wanton or cruel killing; carnage.
- n. Something botched; a bungle.
- n. The trade of a butcher.
- n. Chiefly British A slaughterhouse.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Slaughter; the act or business of slaughtering cattle.
- n. The killing of a human being, especially in a barbarous manner; also, the killing of a large number, as in battle; great slaughter.
- n. The place where animals are killed for market; a shambles or slaughter-house; hence, a place where blood is shed.
- n. Synonyms Carnage, etc. See massacre.
Wiktionary
- n. The cruel, ruthless killings of humans, as at a slaughterhouse.
- n. rare An abattoir, a slaughterhouse.
- n. The butchering of meat.
- n. A disastrous effort, an atrocious failure.
- n. slang The stereotypical behaviors and accouterments of being a butch lesbian.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. obsolete The business of a butcher.
- n. Murder or manslaughter, esp. when committed with unusual barbarity; great or cruel slaughter.
- n. obsolete A slaughterhouse; the shambles; a place where blood is shed.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the business of a butcher
- n. the savage and excessive killing of many people
- n. a building where animals are butchered
Etymologies
- butcher + -y (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Having already established that our Spartan heroes kill pretty much anything that comes within screaming distance, the industrial music cranks up while we watch as Greek butchery is taken to a visual level hitherto unseen: Asian and Middle Eastern baddies carved up like Easter hams.”
“Second, the butchery is by no means confined to Chihuahua, but occurs nationwide.”
“And on a broader front, as reported in The New Yorker and The New Republic, Al Qaeda's wanton butchery is facing an intellectual challenge from within its own ranks.”
Progress in Iraq…and What To Do About It - Swampland - TIME.com
“Fearnley-Whittingstall’s occasional efforts to explain butchery, like boning a leg of lamb (encouraging his readers not to bother with a professional but to do the 'hatchet job yourself — it’s quite easy to improvise'), reveal a tolerance for chaos ( 'It’s a bit tricky to explain') that may be without precedent among people who make”
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“Bernard Vandaele (KULeuven) and by Kerim Altu (Istanbul University) supervised the northern excavations, first focusing on the space just north of the unexcavated structure we tentatively identified as a butchery (see introduction).”
“Broomfield City Council on May 26 unanimously approved a proposed plan to give tax incentives to the butchery, which is slated to move from Boulder in July and open in Broomfield in early August.”
“I liked Willy Wonka even when shitloads of people called it a "butchery" and I'm waiting to watch his version of Alice in Wonderland.”
“I only chose the word "butchery" because the other characters thought of/referred to him as a butcher for his past actions.”
“Seriously, that kind of butchery of the English language is approaching Sandy Crux levels.”
““What has been done in Iraq is a kind of butchery of the Iraqi people.””
Think Progress » Israelis and Lebanese talking — on the net.
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘butchery’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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A Place for Everything
spicery, creamery, perfumery, confectionery, bakery, fishery, chandlery, beanery, grocery, ashery, haberdashery, carvery and 54 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for butchery.
dailyword This word was used in the movie "Alexander" when the historian was talking about the battle in India. Jun 13, 2012