mallet
Americannoun
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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.
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the wooden implement used to strike the balls in croquet.
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Polo. the long-handled stick, or club, used to drive the ball.
noun
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a tool resembling a hammer but having a large head of wood, copper, lead, leather, etc, used for driving chisels, beating sheet metal, etc
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a long stick with a head like a hammer used to strike the ball in croquet or polo
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a very large powerful steam locomotive with a conventional boiler but with two separate articulated engine units
Etymology
Origin of mallet
1375–1425; late Middle English maillet < Middle French, equivalent to mail maul + -et -et
Explanation
A mallet is a tool with a large, barrel-shaped, head — used to pound on something. You might use a mallet to strike an instrument or in playing croquet. Yeah, right. A mallet is a long-handled implement with a barrel-shaped head used in games like croquet or polo. In music, a mallet is a stick with a rounded end that is sometimes padded, used to strike percussion instruments like timpani, bells, or a marimba. Use your yarn or rubber mallets to play the marimba, and use your wooden mallets to play the xylophone.
Vocabulary lists containing mallet
100 Great Words from "Fahrenheit 451" -- Part I Vocabulary
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Chains
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The Shining
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Not everyone opened their front door on Monday, but some of those who did told Ms Mallet they had already voted.
From BBC • Apr. 1, 2025
Dr Mallet says there are "very, very good reasons to be worried".
From BBC • Sep. 16, 2023
"There is a risk that it breaks off and drifts out to sea with us on it," Dr Mallet says.
From BBC • Sep. 16, 2023
In another swimming-related episode, Ryan Mallet, a former N.F.L. quarterback, drowned on Tuesday in Destin, Fla., after emergency medical workers responded to assist six swimmers who struggled to make it back to shore.
From New York Times • Jun. 30, 2023
With an aching heart I closed the pannel, and was going to leave the closet, when my mother and Mallet entered the library.
From The Mysterious Wanderer, Vol. III A Novel in Three Volumes by Reeve, Sophia
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
