[f. BUTCHER v. + -ING1.]
1. The trade or occupation of a butcher.
1860. O. W. Holmes, Elsie Venner (1887), 28. A great, hulking fellow, who had been bred to butchering.
2. The action of killing in the manner of a butcher, lit. and fig. Also attrib.
1604. J. Williams, Ballads fr. MSS., I. 53. Thexecutioners playde there butchringe partes.
1613. Bp.sHall, Holy Panegyr., 79. Here hath been … no Bonner-ing or Butchering of Gods Saints.
1831. Carlyle, Sart. Res., II. iii. 125. The Soldier wears openly, and even parades, his butchering-tool.
1865. Bushnell, Vicar. Sacr., IV. i. 395. Every woman, every child, looked on at the butchering.
