shechitan.

1875 J. Picciotto Sketches Anglo-Jewish Hist. xxvii. 217 The Portuguese would willingly join in the formation of a general body for the management of the Shechita (arrangements for slaughtering and preparing cattle for food more Judaico).

1891 M. Friedländer Jewish Relig. 463 Any deviation from these rules in the act of killing the animal renders the shechitah unlawful.

1910 Jewish Chron. 14 Jan. 34/1 (heading) The Shecheta Board, the Public, and the Butchers.

1910 Jewish Chron. 1 Apr. 13/2 Fröken von Konow..constantly describes Shechita as a religious observance, but when it suits her purpose she speaks of it as an act ‘practised under the cloak of religion’.

1921 Dict. Occup. Terms (1927) §448 Slaughterer, Jewish;..shecheta,..is employed by Jewish Board of Shecheta.

1939 Contemp. Jewish Record II. iii. 32 Charges of alleged brutality have been made the basis for the prohibition of Shehitah in several European countries.

1941 Contemp. Jewish Record 4 539 The Iron Guards..bestially murdered them in parody of shehita.

1964 E. Huxley Back Street New Worlds ii. 25 Animals must be killed by a method known as shechîta, the severing of all veins and arteries in the neck with a single knife-stroke.

1976 C. Bermant Coming Home i. i. 18 Insofar as slaughter can be humane, shechita is humane—to the animal. It is, however, inhumane to the shochet, for..he has to face the..almost pleading eyes of the animal.