Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913
Butchery
Butch′er·y (·ẽr·y̆), 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.