Nearby Words

slaughter

[slaw-ter] Example Sentences Origin

slaugh·ter

[slaw-ter]
noun
1.
the killing or butchering of cattle, sheep, etc., especially for food.
2.
the brutal or violent killing of a person.
3.
the killing of great numbers of people or animals indiscriminately; carnage: the slaughter of war.
verb (used with object)
4.
to kill or butcher (animals), especially for food.
5.
to kill in a brutal or violent manner.
6.
to slay in great numbers; massacre.
7.
Informal. to defeat thoroughly; trounce: They slaughtered our team.

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Slaughter is one of our favorite verbs.
So is bowdlerise. Does it mean:
to expurgate (a written work) by removing or modifying passages considered vulgar or objectionable.
to introduce subtleties into or argue subtly about.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English slaghter, slahter, slauther (noun) < Old Norse slātr, earlier slāttr, slahtr

slaugh·ter·er, noun
slaugh·ter·ing·ly, adverb
un·slaugh·tered, adjective


2. murder. 4–6. Slaughter, butcher, massacre all imply violent and bloody methods of killing. Slaughter and butcher, primarily referring to the killing of animals for food, are used also of the brutal or indiscriminate killing of human beings: to slaughter cattle; to butcher a hog. Massacre indicates a general slaughtering of helpless or unresisting victims: to massacre the peasants of a region.

Example Sentences
  • Slaughter on administrative leave until his contract expires.
  • Their closest living cousins, chimpanzees, also slaughter their own kind-in brutal attacks that primatologists increasingly view.
  • In addition, protest groups planning to land helicopters on the ice to film the slaughter may have to change their tactics.
EXPAND
Dictionary.com Unabridged

Slaugh·ter

[slaw-ter]
noun
Frank, 1908–2001, U.S. novelist and physician.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To slaughter
Collins
World English Dictionary
slaughter (ˈslɔːtə)
 
n
1.  the killing of animals, esp for food
2.  the savage killing of a person
3.  the indiscriminate or brutal killing of large numbers of people, as in war; massacre
4.  informal a resounding defeat
 
vb
5.  to kill (animals), esp for food
6.  to kill in a brutal manner
7.  to kill indiscriminately or in large numbers
8.  informal to defeat resoundingly
 
[Old English sleaht; related to Old Norse slāttar hammering, slātr butchered meat, Old High German slahta, Gothic slauhts, German Schlacht battle]
 
'slaughterer
 
n
 
'slaughterous
 
adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

slaughter
c.1300, "killing of a cattle or sheep for food, killing of a person," from O.N. *slahtr, akin to slatr "a butchering, butcher meat," slatra "to slaughter," and slattr "a mowing;" related to sla "to strike" (see slay), from P.Gmc. *slukhtis. Meaning "killing of a large number
EXPAND
of persons in battle" is attested from mid-14c. The verb is from 1530s. Slaughter-house is from late 14c.
COLLAPSE
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

murder definition


and slaughter
  1. tv.
    to overwhelm; to beat someone in a sports contest. : We went out on the field prepared to slaughter them. The murdered us in the second half.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

slaughter

see like a lamb to the slaughter.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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