Definition

1. Noun:
   • The savage and excessive killing of many people: The act of killing people in a brutal, violent, and often indiscriminate manner.
   • The business of a butcher: The trade or work involving the slaughtering of animals and the preparation and selling of their meat.
   • A building where animals are butchered: A slaughterhouse; a place where animals are killed for meat.

Examples of Usage

• Noun (Mass killing):
  • The invasion was followed by scenes of horrific butchery.
  • Historians documented the butchery that occurred during the civil war.
• Noun (Trade/Business):
  • He learned the butchery trade from his father.
  • Modern butchery requires strict hygiene standards.
• Noun (Place):
  • The old town butchery was located at the edge of the village.
  • Regulations require that all animals be processed in a licensed butchery.

Advanced Usage

• "An act of butchery": Used to describe a specific, brutal incident of killing, often implying it was senseless or cruel.
  • The attack was not a battle; it was a sheer act of butchery.
• Figurative Use: Can be used metaphorically to describe a very poor or destructive performance, especially in sports or arts, where something is ruined.
  • The critic called the director's cut a butchery of the original classic novel.

Variants and Related Words

• Butcher (n): A person who slaughters and prepares animals for meat, or a person who kills brutally.
• Butcher (v): To slaughter (an animal) for food, or to kill (people) brutally.
• Butcher's (n): A shop where meat is sold.
• Butcherly (adj): Resembling or characteristic of a butcher; savage, cruel.

Synonyms

• Slaughter: The killing of animals for food, or the brutal killing of many people.
• Massacre: The indiscriminate and brutal killing of many people.
• Carnage: The violent killing of a large number of people.
• Slaughterhouse: A place where animals are butchered (synonym for the place meaning).

Related Phrases

• "Like a butcher's shop": A simile describing a place that is very messy, bloody, or chaotic.
  • After the fight, the locker room looked like a butcher's shop.

Noun

1. the savage and excessive killing of many people
2. the business of a butcher
3. a building where animals are butchered