Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Word of the day: abattoir

The word of the day is abattoir:
  1. a slaughterhouse.
"slaughterhouse for cows," 1820, from Fr. abattre "to beat down" (see abate).

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/abattoir)


"European farmers have little experience raising insects, but Grant didn't have to start from scratch.  Elm farm has produced bluebottle larvae for decades, as bait for recreational fishers.  They grow on abattoir waste—kidneys, livers, and hearts, glistening in nauseating reds, greens, and browns.  Within a few days they're covered by thousands of maggots, as if they had come back to writhing, pulsing life."

 - Kai Kupferdchmidt, "Buzz Food: Feeding insect meal to livestock could help the planet, but will it be good for people?", Science 350:267 (16 October 2015)

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