mallet

[ mal-it ]

noun

1. a hammerlike tool with a head commonly of wood but occasionally of rawhide, plastic, etc., used for driving any tool with a wooden handle, as a chisel, or for striking a surface.
2. the wooden implement used to strike the balls in croquet.
3. Polo. the long-handled stick, or club, used to drive the ball.

mallet

/ ˈmælɪt /

noun

1. a tool resembling a hammer but having a large head of wood, copper, lead, leather, etc, used for driving chisels, beating sheet metal, etc
2. a long stick with a head like a hammer used to strike the ball in croquet or polo
3. a very large powerful steam locomotive with a conventional boiler but with two separate articulated engine units

Word History and Origins

Origin of mallet¹

1375–1425; late Middle English maillet < Middle French, equivalent to mail maul + -et -et

Word History and Origins

Origin of mallet¹

C15: from Old French maillet wooden hammer, diminutive of mail maul (n)

Example Sentences

The work, titled “Walk with me, my joy” is a new work for flute, cello, mallet percussion, and piano.

From Washington Blade

You can also just use a chisel and mallet to remove the wood.

From Popular-Science

The initial belief is he has mallet finger, essentially a sprained joint that makes it hard to flex a finger.

From Washington Post

Carlos Gracida 53, was killed in a freak accident, after his horse was hit on the head by another player's mallet.

From The Daily Beast

“If they [the owners] want to get their tires, that will have to be negotiated,” said Mallet.

From The Daily Beast

After the match William was presented with a mini polo mallet for his newborn son, Prince George.

From The Daily Beast

He had to use his mallet to push himself back on board his polo pony, according to a report in today's Daily Express.

From The Daily Beast

During a charity match in Barbados, Harry was thrown and then threw his polo mallet in anger.

From The Daily Beast

Jones then went aft to a locker near the stern, whence he returned with a mallet and chisel, and went below.

From Project Gutenberg

To half a tennis-lawn add two ounces of croquet-mallet and three arches of pergola, and reduce the whole to a fine powder.

From Project Gutenberg

Then I stuck the mallet in my pocket, telling every one who cared to hear that I was carrying away a souvenir.

From Project Gutenberg

Girl as she was, in her studio at home she wielded for eight or ten hours a day a leaden mallet weighing four pounds and a half.

From Project Gutenberg

It seemed as if that great genius with a few blows of his mallet could have finished the indistinct labours of the giant.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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