butchery Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a building where animals are butchered
    abattoir; shambles; slaughterhouse.
  2. noun the business of a butcher
    butchering.
  3. noun the savage and excessive killing of many people
    massacre; carnage; mass murder; slaughter.

WordNet

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

Webster 1913