maim

[meym]

verb (used with object)

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.

noun Obsolete.

a physical injury, especially a loss of a limb.

an injury or defect; blemish; lack.

Origin of maim

1250–1300; Middle English mayme, variant of mahayme mayhem

Related formsmaimed·ness, nounmaim·er, nounre·maim, verb (used with object)self-maimed, adjectiveun·maimed, adjective

Can be confusedmaim mayhem (see synonym study at the current entry)

Synonyms for maim

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. 2019

Related Words for maiming

harm, dismember, disfigure, injure, incapacitate, wound, impair, disable, hack, mutilate, mangle, maul, castrate, deface, break, mar, truncate, lame, massacre, damage

Examples from the Web for maiming

Contemporary Examples of maiming

Imagine not just one bomb killing and maiming civilians in Boston, but over 150 over four years.
Can The Peace Camp Cope With 'Fragility'?
Bernard Avishai
May 13, 2013
He had not set off a series of bombs, killing and maiming innocent bystanders in broad daylight.
Doctors Still Have to Treat Dzhokhar Tsarnaev
Kent Sepkowitz
April 21, 2013
Between 1996 and 2002, RUF rebels rampaged Sierre Leone, killing, maiming, and raping civilians.
War Criminal Charles Taylor’s Daughter Defends Her Dad
Robtel Neajai Pailey
April 27, 2012
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.
The Last Larger-Than-Life Outlaw
Lee Siegel
June 24, 2011

Historical Examples of maiming

As to whether they were killing or maiming Caradoc's crew, Madden could not tell.
The Cruise of the Dry Dock
T. S. Stribling
Indeed, obstinacy is one of his most maiming characteristics.
Idling in Italy
Joseph Collins
I am most thankful indeed for my escape from death or maiming.
Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India
W. S. R. Hodson
The maiming of Lola's beauty has been the last jest which the Arch-Jester has practised on me.
Simon the Jester
William J. Locke
After supper Ted told of the maiming of the cattle and the death of Sol Flatbush.
Ted Strong in Montana
Edward C. Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for maiming

maim

verb (tr)

to mutilate, cripple, or disable a part of the body of (a person or animal)

to make defective

noun

obsolete an injury or defect

Derived Formsmaimedness (ˈmeɪmɪdnɪs), nounmaimer, noun

Word Origin for maim

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for maiming

maim

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.