cull

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
cull/kʌl/

▶verb

• 1 reduce the population of (a wild animal) by selective slaughter.

  ■ send (an unwanted farm animal) to be slaughtered.

• 2 obtain from a variety of sources: anecdotes culled from Greek and Roman history.

▶noun a selective slaughter of wild animals.

■ a livestock animal selected for killing.

– derivatives
culler noun.

– origin ME: from OFr. coillier, based on L. colligere (see collect1).