maim
[meym]
- to deprive of the use of some part of the body by wounding or the like; cripple: The explosion maimed him for life.
- to impair; make essentially defective: The essay was maimed by deletion of important paragraphs.
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- a physical injury, especially a loss of a limb.
- an injury or defect; blemish; lack.
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Origin of maim
Synonyms
1. Maim, lacerate, mangle, mutilate indicate the infliction of painful and severe injuries on the body. To maim is to injure by giving a disabling wound, or by depriving a person of one or more members or their use: maimed in an accident. To lacerate is to inflict severe cuts and tears on the flesh or skin: to lacerate an arm. To mangle is to chop undiscriminatingly or to crush or rend by blows or pressure, as if by machinery: bodies mangled in a train wreck. To mutilate is to injure the completeness or beauty of a body, especially by cutting off an important member: to mutilate a statue, a tree, a person. 2. injure, disable, deface, mar.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
harmdismemberdisfigureinjureincapacitatewoundimpairdisablehackmutilatemanglemaulcastratedefacebreakmartruncatelamemassacredamageExamples from the Web for maiming
Contemporary Examples
Imagine not just one bomb killing and maiming civilians in Boston, but over 150 over four years.
He had not set off a series of bombs, killing and maiming innocent bystanders in broad daylight.
Between 1996 and 2002, RUF rebels rampaged Sierre Leone, killing, maiming, and raping civilians.
The savage violence, the large-scale death and maiming of World War II were just beginning to loosen up social mores a la Mad Men.
Historical Examples
As to whether they were killing or maiming Caradoc's crew, Madden could not tell.
The Cruise of the Dry DockT. S. Stribling
Indeed, obstinacy is one of his most maiming characteristics.
Idling in ItalyJoseph Collins
I am most thankful indeed for my escape from death or maiming.
Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in IndiaW. S. R. Hodson
The maiming of Lola's beauty has been the last jest which the Arch-Jester has practised on me.
Simon the JesterWilliam J. Locke
After supper Ted told of the maiming of the cattle and the death of Sol Flatbush.
Ted Strong in MontanaEdward C. Taylor
maim
- to mutilate, cripple, or disable a part of the body of (a person or animal)
- to make defective
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- obsolete an injury or defect
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Word Origin
C14: from Old French mahaignier to wound, probably of Germanic origin
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for maiming
maim
v.
c.1300, maimen, from Old French mahaignier "injure, wound, muitilate, cripple, disarm," possibly from Vulgar Latin *mahanare (cf. Provençal mayanhar, Italian magagnare), of unknown origin; or possibly from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *mait- (cf. Old Norse meiða "to hurt," related to mad (adj.)), or from PIE root *mai- "to cut." Related: Maimed; maiming.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper