butch·er / ˈboŏchər/ • n. 1. a person whose trade is cutting up and selling meat in a shop. ∎  a person who slaughters and cuts up animals for food: a pork butcher. ∎  a person who kills or has people killed indiscriminately or brutally: the Nazi death camp butcher.2. inf. a person selling refreshments, newspapers, and other items on a train or in a stadium or theater.• v. [tr.] (often be butchered) slaughter or cut up (an animal) for food: the meat will be butchered for the local market. ∎  kill (someone) brutally: they butchered 250 people. ∎ fig. ruin (something) deliberately or through incompetence: the film was butchered by the studio that released it.

butcher XIII. ME. bo(u)cher — AN. var. of OF. bo(u)chier (mod. boucher); f. OF., Pr. boc (F. bouc) he-goat, prob. — OCelt. *bukkos; see BUCK, -ER4.
Hence butcher vb. XVI. So butchery slaughter-house, butcher's shop XIV; butcher's trade XV; (brutal) slaughter XVI. — (O)F. boucherie.