WordWeb Online

1. The business of a butcher
   - butchery

1. Kill (animals) usually for food consumption
   "They butchered their only goat to survive the winter";
   - slaughter
    
2. Kill a large number of people indiscriminately
   "The Hutus butchered the Tutsis in Rwanda";
   - massacre, slaughter, mow down
    
3. Make a mess of, destroy or ruin
   - botch, bodge [Brit, informal], bumble, fumble, botch up, muff [informal], blow, flub [N. Amer, informal], screw up [informal], spoil, muck up [informal], bungle, fluff [informal], bobble [N. Amer], mishandle, louse up [informal], foul up, mess up, goof up [informal], cock up [Brit, informal], balls up [informal], make a hash of [informal]

Derived forms: butcherings

Type of: business, business enterprise, commercial enterprise, fail, go wrong, kill, miscarry

Encyclopedia: Butchering