slaughter
/ˈslɔːtə/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms slaughters slaughtering slaughtered slaughtre
- noun (uncountable) The killing of animals, generally for food.
- noun A massacre; the killing of a large number of people.
- noun (rare) A mass destruction of non-living things.
- noun A rout or decisive defeat.
- noun (collective) A group of iguanas.
- verb (transitive) To butcher animals, generally for food.
- verb (transitive, intransitive) To massacre people in large numbers.
- verb (transitive) To kill someone or something, especially in a particularly brutal manner.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A town in East Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, United States, from the surname.
- proper noun Used in the placenames of the Slaughters, Upper Slaughter and Lower Slaughter.
Synonyms
mess thrashing walloping debacle drubbing trouncing whipping massacre mass murder carnage butchery butcher mow down
Etymology
From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (“to hit, strike, throw”). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).
Originally named for someone who slaughtered animals for food.
See Slaughters.
Webster’s 1913
- noun The act of killing. Specifically: (a) The extensive, violent, bloody, or wanton destruction of life; carnage.
- verb To visit with great destruction of life; to kill; to slay in battle.
- verb To butcher; to kill for the market, as beasts.
Etymology [OE. slautir, slaughter, slaghter, Icel. slatr slain flesh, modified by OE. slaught, slaht, slaughter, fr. AS. sleaht a stroke, blow; both from the root of E. slay. See Slay, v. t., and cf. Onslaught.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “slaughter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details