Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Slaughter

Slaughter , noun

[Old English slautir, slaughter, slaghter, Icelandic slātr slain flesh, modified by Old English slaught, slaht, slaughter, from Anglo-Saxon sleaht a stroke, blow; both from the root of English slay. See Slay, transitive verb, and compare Onslaught.]

The act of killing.
(a)
The extensive, violent, bloody, or wanton destruction of life; carnage.
On war and mutual slaughter bent. — Milton
(b)
The act of killing cattle or other beasts for market.

Slaughter , transitive verb

1.
To visit with great destruction of life; to kill; to slay in battle.
Your castle is surprised; your wife and babes Savagely slaughtered. — Shakespeare
2.
To butcher; to kill for the market, as beasts.