slaughter

Everyday

1. To slaughter animals means to kill them for food. tree →
2. To slaughter people means to kill many of them cruelly, for example in a war. tree →
3. (noun) Slaughter is the killing of animals for meat, or the cruel killing of many people. tree →
4. (informal) To slaughter a team or player means to beat them very easily: "we got slaughtered 8–0". tree →

In the lessons

In farming and food lessons, animals are slaughtered to make meat, under rules about welfare. In history, slaughter describes terrible battles. In sport talk, "slaughter" is an exaggeration for a big win. Phrases: slaughter animals, the slaughter of, like lambs to the slaughter, get slaughtered.

Examples

• Cattle are slaughtered to provide beef. tree →
• The battle ended in terrible slaughter. tree →
• We got slaughtered 7–0 in the final. tree →
• The farmer sent the pigs to be slaughtered. tree →
• "Like lambs to the slaughter" means going without knowing the danger. tree →
• The wolves slaughtered several sheep in the night. tree →
• The storm still continuing, he was obliged to slaughter his yoke oxen for food. tree →

Note

Pronounced "SLAW-ter". A slaughterhouse (or abattoir) is where animals are killed for meat. The sport meaning is informal and an exaggeration. It is a strong, upsetting word in its war meaning.

In Jewish tradition

In the Torah slaughter can mean killing in battle, or the killing of an animal for a sacrifice. In the prophets "lambs to the slaughter" is a picture of people brought down helplessly to destruction. Zechariah speaks of a "flock of slaughter," people doomed to be killed.

Interpretation. Jewish law has strict rules for slaughtering animals for food (shechita), done quickly and with a sharp knife. The tradition reads Zechariah's flock as Israel's poor and weak, led by bad shepherds.

Examples

• And the king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings that were with him, at the vale of Shaveh — the same is the King's Vale. (Torah GEN.14.17, JPS 1917) tree →
• Presumably, the anatomy of slaughtered livestock would have been fairly familiar to many writers and readers of the time, while blessedly few indeed would have had first-hand knowledge of human innards.] Like what did He make them? (A city) [strife]. (Sefer Yetzirah, Sefaria community translation) tree →
• Thus said the LORD my God: 'Feed the flock of slaughter; (Prophets ZEC.11.4, JPS 1917) tree →
• So I fed the flock of slaughter, verily the poor of the flock. (Prophets ZEC.11.7, JPS 1917) tree →
• I will bring them down like lambs to the slaughter, like rams with he-goats. (Prophets JER.51.40, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Pronounced "SLAW-ter". A slaughterhouse (or abattoir) is where animals are killed for meat. The sport meaning is informal and an exaggeration. It is a strong, upsetting word in its war meaning.