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Chambers (1908)

Butcher

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[O. Fr. bochier, bouchier, one who kills he-goats—boc, a he-goat; allied to Eng. Buck.]

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Butcher, booch′ėr, n. one whose business is to slaughter animals for food: one who delights in bloody deeds.—v.t. to slaughter animals for food: to put to a bloody death, to kill cruelly: (fig.) to spoil anything, as a bad actor or the like.—ns. Butch′er-bird, a shrike; Butch′ering, Butch′ing, the act of killing for food, or cruelly.—adv. Butch′erly, butcher-like, cruel, murderous.—ns. Butch′er-meat, Butch′er's-meat, the flesh of animals slaughtered by butchers, as distinguished from fish, fowls, and game; Butch′er's-broom, a genus of plants of the lily order, the common one being an evergreen shrub, a bunch of which is used by butchers for sweeping their blocks; Butch′ery, great or cruel slaughter: a slaughter-house or shambles. [O. Fr. bochier, bouchier, one who kills he-goats—boc, a he-goat; allied to Eng. Buck.]

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Edition, rights and traceability

Chambers’s Twentieth Century Dictionary of the English Language
Thomas Davidson (editor)
1908

Public-domain-US ↗ · United States

Publisher marks these historical texts public domain in the USA. Transformed book text excludes Gutenberg branding; source attribution is a bibliographic acknowledgment. No non-US public-domain determination is made.

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