Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Butchering \Butch"er*ing\, n.
   1. The business of a butcher.

   2. The act of slaughtering; the act of killing cruelly and
      needlessly.

            That dreadful butchering of one another. --Addison.

Butcher \Butch"er\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Butchered}; p. pr. &
   vb. n. {Butchering}.]
   1. To kill or slaughter (animals) for food, or for market;
      as, to butcher hogs.

   2. To murder, or kill, especially in an unusually bloody or
      barbarous manner. --Macaulay.

            [Ithocles] was murdered, rather butchered. --Ford.

Source : WordNet®

butchering
     n : the business of a butcher [syn: {butchery}]