- a retailer of meat
- a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market
- an indiscriminate or brutal murderer
- to slaughter or dress (animals) for meat
- to kill indiscriminately or brutally
- to make a mess of; botch; ruin
WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026
butch•er /ˈbʊtʃɚ/USA pronunciation
n.
v. [~ + object]
WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026- [countable]
- one who kills animals and prepares the meat for food or for market;
one who sells meat in a shop:He worked as a butcher in the stockyards. - a person guilty of brutal murder:The prison commander was known as the "butcher'' because of all the executions he ordered.
v. [~ + object]
- to slaughter (animals) and prepare the meat for market:He butchered the calf.
- to kill brutally or excessively:He butchered thousands of civilians.
butch•er
(bŏŏch′ər),USA pronunciation n.
v.t.
butch′er•er, n.
- a retail or wholesale dealer in meat.
- a person who slaughters certain animals, or who dresses the flesh of animals, fish, or poultry, for food or market.
- a person guilty of brutal or indiscriminate slaughter or murder.
- a vendor who hawks newspapers, candy, beverages, etc., as on a train, at a stadium, etc.
v.t.
- to slaughter or dress (animals, fish, or poultry) for market.
- to kill indiscriminately or brutally.
- to bungle;
botch:to butcher a job.
- Gaulish *bucco-; compare Old Irish boc, Welsh bwch; akin to buck1) + -ier -ier2 (see -er2)
- Anglo-French; Old French bo(u)chier, equivalent. to bo(u)c he-goat (
- Middle English bocher 1250–1300
- 3. killer, cutthroat. 5. 6. See slaughter.
Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::
butcher /ˈbʊtʃə/ n
'butchered' also found in these entries (note: many are not synonyms or translations):