Butchery

2 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Butchery \Butch"er*y\, n. [OE. bocherie shambles, fr. F.
     boucherie. See {Butcher}, n.]
     1. The business of a butcher. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. Murder or manslaughter, esp. when committed with unusual


        barbarity; great or cruel slaughter. --Shak.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              The perpetration of human butchery.   --Prescott.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     3. A slaughterhouse; the shambles; a place where blood is
        shed. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]
  
              Like as an ox is hanged in the butchery. --Fabyan.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Syn: Murder; slaughter; carnage. See {Massacre}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  butchery
       n 1: a building where animals are butchered [syn: {abattoir}, {shambles},
             {slaughterhouse}]
       2: the business of a butcher [syn: {butchering}]
       3: the savage and excessive killing of many people [syn: {slaughter},
           {massacre}, {mass murder}, {carnage}]