Any one of numerous species of oscinine birds of the
   family Laniidae, having a strong hooked bill, toothed at the tip. Most
   shrikes are insectivorous, but the common European gray shrike (Lanius
   excubitor), the great northern shrike (L. borealis), and several
   others, kill mice, small birds, etc., and often impale them on thorns,
   and are, on that account called also butcher birds. See under Butcher.