slaughter

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: Slaughter

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle English slaughter, from Old Norse *slahtr, later sláttr, from Proto-Germanic *slahtrą, from Proto-Germanic *slahaną. Equivalent to slay + -ter (as in laughter). Eventually derived from Proto-Indo-European *slak- (to hit, strike, throw). Related with Dutch slachten, German schlachten, Finnish lahdata (all “to slaughter”).

Pronunciation

Noun

slaughter (countable and uncountable, plural slaughters)

  1. (uncountable) The killing of animals, generally for food.
  2. A massacre; the killing of a large number of people.
  3. (rare) A mass destruction of non-living things.
    • 1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: Western Region”, in Modern Railways, page 425:
      There was a massive slaughter of W.R. steam power at the conclusion of the summer timetable. In all, 169 locomotives were condemned.
  4. A rout or decisive defeat.
  5. A group of iguanas.
    Synonym: mess

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

slaughter (third-person singular simple present slaughters, present participle slaughtering, simple past and past participle slaughtered)

  1. (transitive) To butcher animals, generally for food.
  2. (transitive, intransitive) To massacre people in large numbers.
  3. (transitive) To kill someone or something, especially in a particularly brutal manner.

Derived terms

Translations

Anagrams

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.