Butchery

butchery
    n 1: a building where animals are butchered [syn: {abattoir},
         {butchery}, {shambles}, {slaughterhouse}]
    2: the business of a butcher [syn: {butchery}, {butchering}]
    3: the savage and excessive killing of many people [syn:
       {slaughter}, {massacre}, {mass murder}, {carnage},
       {butchery}]
    

Butchery \Butch"er*y\, n. [OE. bocherie shambles, fr. F.
   boucherie. See {Butcher}, n.]
   1. The business of a butcher. [Obs.]
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   2. Murder or manslaughter, esp. when committed with unusual
      barbarity; great or cruel slaughter. --Shak.
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            The perpetration of human butchery.   --Prescott.
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   3. A slaughterhouse; the shambles; a place where blood is
      shed. [Obs.]
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            Like as an ox is hanged in the butchery. --Fabyan.
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   Syn: Murder; slaughter; carnage. See {Massacre}.
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