butchering
butchering — verb
- butcheringpresent simple I / you / we / they
- butcherings3rd person singular
- butcheringing-ing form
- butcheringedpast simple
1. to kill an animal and cut its body into pieces of meat that can be cooked, sold,
to kill an animal and cut its body into pieces of meat that can be cooked, sold, or stored
The farmer taught his son how to butcher a pig when the boy turned twelve.
butcher + animal noun as direct object
In rural areas, many families still butcher their own chickens for Sunday dinner.
The butchering of cows requires skill and the right tools to do it properly.
Lara watched the farmer butcher the lamb and wrap the meat for the freezer.
Before winter the village held a day for butchering several pigs to store as food.
- slaughter
more general; can refer to killing animals for food, but also carries a stronger sense of mass killing
文法句型
butcher + noun (animal)
2. to take human life through acts of extreme cruelty, frequently on a large scale
to take human life through acts of extreme cruelty, frequently on a large scale
The invading army butchered hundreds of innocent villagers during the attack.
butcher + large group of defenceless people
Sirin could not forget her grandmother's stories about soldiers who butchered the town's people.
The documentary shows how the rebel group butchered anyone who refused to join their cause.
Historians condemn the regime that butchered thousands of political prisoners during the civil war.
The general was accused of butchering prisoners of war after they had already surrendered.
文法句型
butcher + noun (person or group)
用法筆記
This sense is much stronger and more emotive than 'kill'. It is used mainly in writing or speech that aims to express outrage at extreme cruelty.
3. to ruin a task, performance, or piece of work through a total lack of skill or c
to ruin a task, performance, or piece of work through a total lack of skill or care
David butchered the national anthem when he tried to sing it at the stadium.
informal: butcher + performance
The carpenter completely butchered the shelves by cutting the wood at the wrong angles.
Yael butchered her lines during the school play and the audience started laughing.
Ife tried to fix the leaky pipe but butchered the job and flooded the kitchen.
Dahlia butchered every French word in her speech because she had never practised the pronunciation.
文法句型
butcher + noun (task, speech, performance)
用法筆記
This sense is used in informal situations when a task that required skill or care is ruined by poor work. It is not used for cooking errors despite the literal animal-meat sense.
常見錯誤
butchering — noun
1. someone who makes a living by killing animals for their flesh and offering the m
someone who makes a living by killing animals for their flesh and offering the meat for sale
The butcher cut the pork into thin slices and wrapped them for the customer.
butcher as a shop worker who prepares meat
Sayaka went to the butcher to buy some fresh lamb for the weekend dinner.
The local butcher knows his customers by name and gives good advice on cooking meat.
Nikos worked thirty years as a butcher before opening his own shop at the market.
Ask the butcher to grind the beef into mince while you wait at the counter.
- meat seller
more general; does not necessarily include the slaughtering of animals
文法句型
a butcher / the butcher / butchers (plural)
用法筆記
The phrase 'the butcher's' (with possessive) means the shop where the butcher works, e.g. 'I'm going to the butcher's to buy sausages.'
2. a person who kills other people in a cruel or brutal way, especially someone who
a person who kills other people in a cruel or brutal way, especially someone who kills many victims
The dictator was a butcher who ordered thousands of his citizens killed without regret.
figurative use: butcher as a cruel ruler
Historians describe the general as a butcher who showed no mercy to prisoners of war.
The novel tells of a butcher who murdered victims with horrifying cruelty night after night.
The prosecutor called the defendant a butcher with no respect for human life.
Quinn could not believe the librarian had once been a butcher during the civil war.
- murderer
more neutral and common; does not carry the same implication of extreme brutality
- killer
very general; simply means someone who takes a life
- slaughterer
even more brutal but less common; dehumanising
文法句型
a butcher / the butcher (figurative)
用法筆記
This sense is much stronger than 'murderer'. It is almost always used figuratively in formal or literary contexts to condemn someone as barbaric.