Adjacent Words

Slaughter definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SLAUGHTER, n. slaw'ter [See Slay.]
1. In a general sense, a killing. Applied to men, slaughter usually denotes great destruction of life by violent means; as the slaughter of men in battle.
2. Applied to beasts, butchery; a killing of oxen or other beasts for market.
SLAUGHTER, v.t. slaw'ter.
1. To kill; to slay; to make great destruction of life; as , to slaughter men in battle.
2. To butcher; to kill for the market; as beasts.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the killing of animals (as for food)
2: a sound defeat [syn: thrashing, walloping, debacle, drubbing, slaughter, trouncing, whipping]
3: the savage and excessive killing of many people [syn: slaughter, massacre, mass murder, carnage, butchery] v
1: kill (animals) usually for food consumption; "They slaughtered their only goat to survive the winter" [syn: butcher, slaughter]
2: kill a large number of people indiscriminately; "The Hutus massacred the Tutsis in Rwanda" [syn: massacre, slaughter, mow down]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English, of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse sl?tra to slaughter; akin to Old English sleaht slaughter, sl?an to slay — more at slay Date: 14th century 1. the act of killing; specifically the butchering of livestock for market 2. killing of great numbers of human beings (as in battle or a massacre) ; carnage II. transitive verb Date: 1535 1. to kill (animals) for food ; butcher 2. a. to kill in a bloody or violent manner ; slay b. to kill in large numbers ; massacre 3. to discredit, defeat, or demolish completely • slaughterer noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 the killing of an animal or animals for food. 2 the killing of many persons or animals at once or continuously; carnage, massacre. --v.tr. 1 kill (people) in a ruthless manner or on a great scale. 2 kill for food, butcher. 3 colloq. defeat utterly. Derivatives: slaughterer n. slaughterous adj. Etymology: ME slahter ult. f. ON slátr butcher's meat, rel. to SLAY(1)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Slaughter Slaugh"ter, n. [OE. slautir, slaughter, slaghter, Icel. sl[=a]tr 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.] The act of killing. Specifically: (a) The extensive, violent, bloody, or wanton destruction of life; carnage. On war and mutual slaughter bent. --Milton. (b) The act of killing cattle or other beasts for market. Syn: Carnage; massacre; butchery; murder; havoc.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Slaughter Slaugh"ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Slaughtered; p. pr. & vb. n. Slaughtering.] 1. To visit with great destruction of life; to kill; to slay in battle. Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes Savagely slaughtered. --Shak. 2. To butcher; to kill for the market, as beasts.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(slaughters, slaughtering, slaughtered) 1. If large numbers of people or animals are slaughtered, they are killed in a way that is cruel or unnecessary. Thirty four people were slaughtered while queuing up to cast their votes... VERB: usu passive, be V-ed • Slaughter is also a noun. ...a war where the slaughter of civilians was commonplace... 2. To slaughter animals such as cows and sheep means to kill them for their meat. Lack of chicken feed means that chicken farms are having to slaughter their stock. VERB: V n • Slaughter is also a noun. More than 491,000 sheep were exported to the Continent for slaughter last year.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. n. 1. Massacre, murder, carnage, bloodshed, butchery, havoc, killing, slaying. 2. Butchery, killing. II. v. a. 1. Massacre, slay, kill, murder, butcher. 2. Butcher, kill.

Moby Thesaurus

annihilate, annihilation, assault, attack, bane, barbarize, batter, battering, blood, bloodbath, bloodletting, bloodshed, blue ruin, braining, breakup, brutalize, burn, butcher, butchering, butchery, carnage, carry on, commit carnage, commit genocide, commit mass murder, consumption, cut off, cut short, damnation, dealing death, decimate, decimation, depopulate, depredation, desolation, despoilment, despoliation, destroy, destruction, destruction of life, devastation, disintegration, disorderliness, disorganization, dispatch, dispose of, disruption, dissolution, do away with, end, euthanasia, execution, exterminate, extermination, finish, finish off, flow of blood, forcible seizure, get rid of, go on, gore, hammer, havoc, hecatomb, holocaust, immolation, kill, killing, lapidation, lay waste, laying waste, loot, looting, maim, make away with, mangle, martyrdom, martyrization, massacre, maul, mercy killing, mug, murder, murder wholesale, mutilate, nip, obstreperousness, occision, onslaught, perdition, pillage, pillaging, poisoning, put paid to, rage, ramp, rampage, rant, rape, ravage, rave, riot, rioting, ritual killing, ritual murder, roar, ruin, ruination, sack, sacking, sacrifice, savage, shambles, shooting, slaughtering, slay, slay en masse, slaying, sow chaos, sowing with salt, spoliation, stick, stoning, storm, take off, taking of life, tear, tear around, terrorize, to, torture, total, undoing, unruliness, vandalism, vandalize, violate, violation, waste, wipe out, wrack, wrack and ruin, wreck