| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| abattoir |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | ab·at·toir |
| PRONUNCIATION: |   b  -twär |
| NOUN: | 1. A slaughterhouse. 2. Something likened to a slaughterhouse: “The hand of God and mankind's self-inflicted blows seem equally heavy … giving a strong cumulative impression of the world as an abattoir” (Manchester Guardian Weekly). | | ETYMOLOGY: | French, from abattre, to strike down, from Old French. See abate.
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
