I. ˈslȯd.ə(r), -ȯtə- noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English slauhter, slaughter, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse slātr butcher's meat, slātra to slaughter; akin to Old English sleaht slaughter, Old High German slahta, Gothic slauhts; derivative from the root of English slay (I)
1.
a. : the killing of animals
the slaughter of a hundred lions afforded him no recreation — Agnes Repplier
especially : the butchery of cattle for market
b. : the killing of a person especially in a bloody or barbarous manner
was marked for slaughter but escaped death and became the leader of the minority — E.E.Dale
2.
a. : mass killing and bloodshed (as in war) : wholesale carnage : massacre
hoped that after the slaughter it would be possible really to create … one world in peace — Alva Myrdal
b. : wanton destruction
notwithstanding this wholesale slaughter , bird life is still plentiful — American Guide Series: Tennessee
half a century of … insensate slaughter sufficed to destroy the magnificent forest — M.M.Quaife
c. obsolete : carnage personified
besmeared and overstained with slaughter's pencil — Shakespeare
3. : an act or instance of utter annihilation or defeat
it was no longer a battle but a slaughter — Robert Graves
ended the slaughter with a par 4 on the tenth hole to win by the awful margin of 9 and 8 — New Yorker
II. transitive verb
( slaughtered ; slaughtered ; slaughtering -ȯd.əriŋ, -ȯtər- also -ȯ.tr- ; slaughters )
1. : to kill (animals) for food ; especially : butcher
2.
a. : to kill (a person) especially in a bloody or barbarous manner : slay
five men in a stolen car slaughtered a paymaster and a factory guard — Phil Stong
the number of people slaughtered annually by cars — F.L.Allen
b. : to discredit or demolish completely
tears through our literature slaughtering Emerson, Thoreau, Melville, and Hawthorne — S.E.Hyman
his team was … slaughtered by Oklahoma — Eddie Beachler
c. slang : to make an irresistible impression on
slaughtering them at the box office — Metronome
3.
a. : to kill (people) in large numbers : massacre
overwhelming automatic firepower … proved too much for them, and 700 were slaughtered in one day — Barrett McGurn
b. : to destroy in large quantities
slaughtered fish in astronomical numbers — Henry LaCossitt
timber was slaughtered — Russell Lord
4. : to sell (securities) at a sacrifice