From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishslaughterslaugh‧ter1 /ˈslɔːtə $ ˈslɒːtər/ ●○○ verb [transitive] 1 TAto kill an animal, especially for its meat2 KILLto kill a lot of people in a cruel or violent way SYN butcher Hundreds of innocent civilians had been slaughtered by government troops.► see thesaurus at kill3 informalDSBEAT/DEFEAT to defeat an opponent in a sport or game by a large number of points SYN hammer We got slaughtered, 110–54.→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
slaughter• More than 3,190,600 animals have been slaughtered.• Arledge said she is not against sending horses to slaughter.• The only way to stop the virus spreading is by slaughtering all infected animals.• As part of the ceremony a cow was slaughtered and placed on the stone altar.• Elizabeth was slaughtered at the wheel of her boyfriend's four-wheel-drive truck as she desperately tried to escape.• Hundreds of civilians had been slaughtered by government troops.• Many of them had been ruthlessly slaughtered by the ancestors of our Secretary of the Interior.• From then on, the story turns into little more than an account of men slaughtering each other.• Men, women and children were slaughtered in groups by their captors.• Too many Trojans had been slaughtered in the first surprise.• The Knicks got slaughtered in the semifinal.• His great dragon Nightfang went berserk and slaughtered many Dark Elves and their slave troops.• Men ran through the village burning houses and slaughtering the inhabitants.• Estimates of the number slaughtered vary from 30,000 to 70,000.slaughterslaughter2 ●○○ noun [uncountable] 1 TABwhen people kill animals, especially for their meat the export of live animals for slaughter2 KILLwhen large numbers of people are killed in a cruel or violent way the slaughter of defenceless women and childrenExamples from the Corpus
slaughter• The men were knocked away from them with great rapidity and slaughter by the terrible fire of the enemy.• Technology had advanced since the appalling slaughter of the Great War.• De Klerk warned Parliament on April 29 that the continuing slaughter could lead to civil war.• His war crimes included the deliberate slaughter of 250,000 individuals.• Most of the cattle will be sent for slaughter.• Many are determined to avenge the slaughter in the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.• And why not give the slaughter of this young magnificent creature a sacred meaning equal to the experience of giving it death?• On the contrary, they had refrained from acting earlier even though they knew of the slaughter.• Now aged 99, he still has vivid memories of the slaughter.• They could only leave the zone if they were going directly to the slaughter house.• The slaughter was terrible - the whole field was covered with bodies.Origin slaughter2 (1200-1300) Old Norse slatr “meat, killing animals for meat” 