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).
[French, from abattre, to strike down, from Old French; see abate.]
building, edifice – a structure that has a roof and walls and stands more or less permanently in one place; “there was a three-story building on the corner”; “it was an imposing edifice”