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3001 entries found
butch (n.)
"tough youth," 1902, first attested in nickname of U.S. outlaw George Cassidy (1866-?), probably an abbreviation of butcher (n.). Sense of "aggressive lesbian" is by 1940s. As an adjective by 1941.
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butcher (v.)
1560s, "to kill or slaughter for food or market," from butcher (n.). Figuratively, "to bungle, botch, spoil by bad work," 1640s. Related: Butchered; butchering. Re-nouned 1640s as butcherer.
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butcher (n.)
c. 1300, "one who slaughters animals for market," from Anglo-French boucher, from Old French bochier "butcher, executioner" (12c., Modern French boucher), probably literally "slaughterer of goats," from bouc "male goat," from Frankish *bukk or some other Germanic source (see buck (n.1)) or Celtic *bukkos "he-goat." Figurative sense of "brutal murderer, one who kills indiscriminately or cruelly" is attested from 1520s. Related: Butcherly. Old English had flæscmangere "butcher" ('flesh-monger').
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butcher-knife (n.)
1822, from butcher (n.) + knife (n.). Butcher's knife is attested from 1714.
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butchery (n.)
mid-15c., bocherie, "the trade of a butcher," from Old French bocherie "slaughter; a butcher's shop" (13c., Modern French boucherie), from bochier "a butcher" (see butcher (n.)). Meaning "barbarous killing" is from mid-15c.
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butler (n.)
mid-13c. (as a surname late 12c.), from Anglo-French buteillier, Old French boteillier, "cup-bearer, butler, officer in charge of wine," from boteille "wine vessel, bottle" (see bottle (n.)). The word reflects the position's original function as "chief servant in charge of wine." It gradually evolved to "head, servant of a household." In Old French, the fem. boteilliere was used of the Virgin Mary as the dispenser of the cup of Mercy.
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butt (n.3)
"target of a joke, object of ridicule," 1610s, from earlier sense "target for shooting practice, turf-covered mound against which an archery target was set," (mid-14c.), from Old French but "aim, goal, end, target" of an arrow, etc. (13c.), which seems to be a fusion of Old French words for "end" (bot) and "aim, goal" (but), both ultimately from Germanic. The latter is from Frankish *but "stump, stock, block," or some other Germanic source (compare Old Norse butr "log of wood"), which would connect it with butt (n.1).
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butt (n.2)
"liquor barrel, cask for wine or ale," late 14c., from Anglo-French but and Old French bot "barrel, wine-skin" (14c., Modern French botte), from Late Latin buttis "cask" (see bottle (n.)). Cognate with Spanish and Portuguese bota, Italian botte. Usually a cask holding 108 to 140 gallons, or roughly two hogsheads; at one time a butt was a legal measure, but it varied greatly and the subject is a complicated one (see notes in Century Dictionary).
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butt (n.5)
"a push or thrust with the head," 1640s, from butt (v.).
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butt (n.6)
"posterior, buttocks, rump," from mid-15c. in cookery, in reference to animal parts, probably from or related to butt (n.1) "thick end," or short for buttock. In modern use chiefly of humans, probably an independent derivation, attested by c. 1860 in U.S. slang.
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