Etymology 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.
1
A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days...1900, Charles W. Chesnutt, chapter I, in 'The House Behind the Cedars:
Butcher of an innocent child.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene ii]:
Etymology 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.
1
To slaughter (animals) and prepare (meat) for market.
2
To work as a butcher.
He tells me he now earns three times as much as he did butchering.2008, Monte Dwyer, Red In The Centre: The Australian Bush Through Urban Eyes, Monyer Pty Ltd, page 121:
3
To kill brutally.
4
To ruin (something), often to the point of defamation.
The band at that bar really butchered "Hotel California".
5
To mess up hopelessly; to botch; to distort beyond recognition.
I am bad at pronouncing names, so my apologies if I butcher any of your names.