▪ I. ˈbutchering, vbl. n.
[f. butcher v. + -ing1.]
1. The trade or occupation of a butcher.
| 1860 O. W. Holmes Elsie Venner (1887) 28 A great, hulking fellow, who had been bred to butchering. |
2. The action of killing in the manner of a butcher. lit. and fig. Also attrib.
| 1604 J. Williams Ballads fr. MSS. I. 53 Thexecutioners playde there butchringe partes. 1613 Bp. Hall Holy Panegyr. 79 Here hath been..no Bonner-ing or Butchering of Gods Saints. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. ii. iii. 125 The Soldier wears openly, and even parades, his butchering-tool. 1865 Bushnell Vicar. Sacr. iv. i. 395 Every woman, every child, looked on at the butchering. |
3. The slaughtering of cattle. Also attrib., as butchering cow.
| 1773 in Maryland Hist. Mag. (1920) XV. 63, I expect one more steer from the Island; the last we had from thence was..miserably mangled in the butchering. 1900 Daily News 10 Apr. 8/6 Fat butchering cows. |
▪ II. ˈbutchering, ppl. a.
[f. as prec. + -ing2.]
That butchers; that kills wantonly or in cold blood.
| 1775 Warren in Harper's Mag. Oct. (1883) 736/1 The butchering hands of an inhuman soldiery. 1816 Southey Poet's Pilgr. iv. xliii, From butchering strife Deliver'd. |