butcher

/ˈbʊtʃər/
/ˈbʊtʃə/
IPA guide

Other forms: butchers; butchered; butchering

The person whose job it is to cut up and sell meat is called a butcher. Your grandmother might go to the butcher once a week to buy pork chops.

A butcher is an expert at preparing cuts of meat and poultry in a butcher shop or the meat section of a supermarket. You can also call a person whose job is slaughtering farm animals a butcher. Because this is a fairly bloody, gory occupation, the word is also used to mean a cruel, ruthless murderer. And when you really mess something up, you can also be said to butcher it — like the way you butchered that poem when you tried to recite it from memory.

Definitions of butcher
  1. noun
    a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market
    synonyms: slaughterer
    see moresee less
    types:
    knacker
    someone who buys up old horses for slaughter
    type of:
    skilled worker, skilled workman, trained worker
    a worker who has acquired special skills
  2. noun
    a retailer of meat
    synonyms: meatman
    see moresee less
    types:
    pork butcher
    a vendor of pork and products made from pork
    type of:
    merchandiser, merchant
    a businessperson engaged in retail trade
  3. verb
    kill (animals) usually for food consumption
    synonyms: slaughter
    see moresee less
    types:
    chine
    cut through the backbone of an animal
    type of:
    kill
    cause to die; put to death, usually intentionally or knowingly
  4. verb
    make a mess of, destroy or ruin
    synonyms: ball up, blow, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, botch, botch up, bumble, bungle, flub, fluff, foul up, fumble, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, muff, screw up, spoil
    see moresee less
    type of:
    fail, go wrong, miscarry
    be unsuccessful
  5. noun
    someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence
    synonyms: blunderer, botcher, bumbler, bungler, fumbler, sad sack, stumbler
    see moresee less
    type of:
    incompetent, incompetent person
    someone who is not competent to take effective action
  6. noun
    a brutal indiscriminate murderer
    see moresee less
    type of:
    liquidator, manslayer, murderer
    a criminal who commits homicide (who performs the unlawful premeditated killing of another human being)
Pronunciation
US
/ˈbʊtʃər/
UK
/ˈbʊtʃə/
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Word Family

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