a brutal indiscriminate murderer
"The notorious serial killer was described by investigators as a ruthless butcher who left no survivors in his path."
a person who slaughters or dresses meat for market
"The local butcher prepared fresh cuts of beef and lamb for customers to take home."
A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
"The local butcher cut a fresh leg of lamb from his daily delivery to prepare it for sale."
In plain English: A butcher is someone who sells meat and other animal products to customers.
"The butcher at the market wrapped our fresh meat in paper for us to take home."
Usage: Avoid using "butcher" as a verb to describe careless destruction unless you intend a harsh, informal tone that equates the damage to violent slaughter. When referring to someone who sells meat professionally, prefer "meat cutter" or "slaughterer" in formal contexts to distinguish them from casual butchers.
To slaughter (animals) and prepare (meat) for market.
"The local butcher slaughtered cattle every morning to supply fresh meat to the neighboring markets."
In plain English: To butcher something means to do it very badly and carelessly, ruining the result instead of making it good.
"He butchered the chicken before cooking dinner."
comparative form of butch: more butch
"That new leather jacket is even more butch than the one I wore last year."
In plain English: Butcher means extremely bad, terrible, or very poor quality when used as an adjective to describe something that is not good at all.
"The butcher shop in town is very crowded on Sundays."
An occupational surname, from occupations for a butcher.
"The Smiths and Butchers families have been neighbors in that village for three generations."
From Middle English bocher, boucher, from Old French bouchier ("goat slaughterer"), from Old French bouc ("goat"), from Medieval Latin buccus ("he-goat"), from Frankish bukk, from Proto-Germanic bukkaz ("male goat, male deer"), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰuǵ- ("buck, ram"). See also English buck.