the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > preparation of meat > dress animals for food [verb (transitive)] > butcher (5)
To cut up (an animal). Obsolete.
transitive. See quot. 1587.
transitive. To slaughter (an animal) for food. Later usually: to cut up or divide (an animal, meat) in preparation for eating, esp. using the…
transitive. To slaughter (an animal), to kill for market. Also: to cut up, to hack. Cf. butcher, v. 1a 3a.