Butchery :  n 1: a building where animals are butchered [syn: abattoir, shambles, slaughterhouse] 2: the business of a butcher [syn: butchering] 3: the savage and excessive killing of many people [syn: slaughter, massacre, mass murder, carnage]

Butchery : \Butch"er*y\, n. [OE. bocherie shambles, fr. F. boucherie. See Butcher, n.] 1. The business of a butcher. [Obs.] 2. Murder or manslaughter, esp. when committed with unusual barbarity; great or cruel slaughter. --Shak. The perpetration of human butchery. --Prescott. 3. A slaughterhouse; the shambles; a place where blood is shed. [Obs.] Like as an ox is hanged in the butchery. --Fabyan. Syn: Murder; slaughter; carnage. See Massacre.