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Butcher vs Assassin - What's the difference?

butcher | assassin |

As nouns the difference between butcher and assassin

is that butcher is a person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals) while assassin is a member of a Muslim militant group responsible for murdering Christian leaders during the Crusades.

As verbs the difference between butcher and assassin

is that butcher is to slaughter (animals) and prepare (meat) for market while assassin is to assassinate.

As a proper noun Butcher

is {{surname|A=An|occupational|from=occupations}} for a butcher.

butcher

English

(wikipedia butcher)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A person who prepares and sells meat (and sometimes also slaughters the animals).
  • * 1900', , Chapter I,
    • He looked in vain into the stalls for the butcher who had sold fresh meat twice a week, on market days...
  • (by extension) A brutal or indiscriminate killer.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Butcher of an innocent child.
  • (Cockney rhyming slang, from butcher's hook) A look.
  • (informal, obsolete) A person who sells candy, drinks, etc. in theatres, trains, circuses, etc.

    • Derived terms

    * * butcher's hook * pork butcher

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To slaughter (animals) and prepare (meat) for market.
  • To kill brutally.
  • To ruin (something), often to the point of defamation.
    • The band at that bar really butchered "Hotel California".

    Synonyms

    * kill, slaughter * (kill brutally) massacre, slay * murder

    assassin

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (historical) A member of a Muslim militant group responsible for murdering Christian leaders during the Crusades.
  • *, II.29:
    • The Assassines , a nation depending of Phœnicia, are esteemed among the Mahometists of a soveraigne devotion and puritie of maners; they hold, that the readiest and shortest way to gaine Paradise, is to kill some one of a contrary religion.
  • Someone who intentionally kills a person, especially a professional who kills a public or political figure.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-29, volume=407, issue=8842, page=55, magazine=(The Economist)
    • , title= Travels and travails , passage=Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin , a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.}}
  • Any ruthless killer.

    • Synonyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * (assassin spider) * assassinate * assassination * assassinator * assassinatrix * assassinous * royal assassin

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (nonstandard) To assassinate.