n. & v.
n. 1 a a person whose trade is dealing in meat. b a person who slaughters animals for food. 2 a person who kills or has people killed indiscriminately or brutally.
v.tr. 1 slaughter or cut up (an animal) for food. 2 kill (people) wantonly or cruelly. 3 ruin (esp. a job or a musical composition) through incompetence. the butcher, the baker, the candlestick-maker people of all kinds or trades. butcher-bird a shrike of the genus Lanius, native to Australia and New Guinea, with a long hook-tipped bill for catching prey. butcher's rhymingsl. a look (short for butcher's hook). butcher's-broom a low spiny-leaved evergreen shrub, Ruscus aculeatus. butcher's meat slaughtered fresh meat excluding game, poultry, and bacon. butcherly adv.
[ ME f. OF bo(u)chier f. boc BUCK(1) ]