maul
Americannoun
-
a heavy hammer, as for driving stakes or wedges.
-
Archaic. a heavy club or mace.
verb (used with object)
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mauls,
present (3rd person singular)
-
mauled,
past participle, past
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mauling
present participle
-
to handle or use roughly.
The book was badly mauled by its borrowers.
-
to injure by a rough beating, shoving, or the like; bruise.
to be mauled by an angry crowd.
-
to split with a maul and wedge, as a wooden rail.
verb
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to handle clumsily; paw
-
to batter or lacerate
noun
-
a heavy two-handed hammer suitable for driving piles, wedges, etc
-
rugby a loose scrum that forms around a player who is holding the ball and on his feet
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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maulsimple
-
maulssimple
-
have mauledperfect
-
has mauledperfect
-
am maulingprogressive
-
are maulingprogressive
-
is maulingprogressive
-
have been maulingperfect progressive
-
has been maulingperfect progressive
Past
-
mauledsimple
-
had mauledperfect
-
was maulingprogressive
-
were maulingprogressive
-
had been maulingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of maul
First recorded in 1200–50; (noun) Middle English malle, from Old French mail “mallet, hammer,” from Latin malleus “hammer”; (verb) Middle English mallen, from Old French maillier, derivative of noun
Explanation
Maul is both the name of a heavy hammer, and also a verb meaning beating and scratching. Tigers, lions, bears––animals with powerful paws and sharp claws, will maul their victims. The maul came to be used as a weapon in the late Middle Ages––if your opponent is wearing armor that a steel sword-blade can't penetrate, you can still inflict damage by mauling them with a hammer. You might not be able to stab your opponent, but at least you can maul them.
Vocabulary lists containing maul
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Touching Spirit Bear
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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.
See Examples For:
Malcolm Marx plunged over at the back of juggernaut maul and a Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu penalty gave South Africa a cushion that Samisoni Taukei'aho's final-play try could dent, but not fully deflate.
From BBC ● Sep. 5, 2026
That score lit a fire in the Springboks, with Kolbe kicking a penalty and Damian de Allende barrelling over after another imposing maul as South Africa showed far more ruthlessness compared to a week ago.
From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026
The Bulls' afternoon worsened as a rolling maul resulted in a penalty try for the hosts and Ruan Nortje was yellow carded in the aftermath.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
Becognee crashed over from a maul, and the flanker's turnover at the end of the half ended a frantic opening 40 minutes in the San Mames stadium.
From BBC ● May 22, 2026
Ole remembered him pounding home cedar posts for raspberry canes, standing in the bed of a pickup truck, shirtless, swinging a maul.
From "Snow Falling on Cedars: A Novel" by David Guterson
"You know Maro is on your team -- he's talking to you at mauls, scrums, nominating and talking around the pitch," Heyes said.
From Barron's ● Feb. 18, 2026
During his Springbok tenure, the former Free State flanker, who won 37 international caps, has innovated with strokes of genius such as naming a bench with just one back and rolling mauls in open play.
From Barron's ● Nov. 9, 2025
New Zealand were troubled by South Africa's ultra-physical approach in the first half of their quarter-final, with the Springboks making metres with 15-player driving mauls and forward thrusts around the fringes.
From BBC ● Sep. 15, 2025
The South Africa fly-half managed the game beautifully and found touch with the boot to lay the foundations for Tigers' opening two tries, which were almost identical rolling mauls, finished off by captain Julian Montoya.
From BBC ● Dec. 13, 2024
Giants lumbered amongst them, forty feet tall, with mauls the size of oak trees.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
Three divers were fatally mauled in separate incidents between May and June -- two in Western Australia and the third in Queensland.
From Barron's ● Aug. 31, 2026
A 71-year-old woman who was found dead inside her Sierra County home had been mauled by a black bear, the first known such fatal attack in California history.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 9, 2026
A woman who was mauled by a dog at a Los Angeles city animal shelter has been awarded $5.4 million by a jury.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 26, 2026
Their pack mauled forward from a line-out and an opportunist Van Poortvliet saw a gap to sneak in.
From BBC ● Jun. 14, 2025
And he had books, too; a tattered dictionary and a mauled copy of the California civil code for 1905.
From "Of Mice and Men" by John Steinbeck
The Spanish top seed wasted little energy in his 100th Grand Slam match with a 6-2, 6-4, 6-1 mauling of French showman Corentin Moutet.
From Barron's ● Jan. 23, 2026
In a sport that was long defined by a handful of powerhouse programs mauling everyone in their path, Cinderella has finally crashed college football’s party.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 9, 2026
Two of Scotland's best - Aaron Hickey and Ben Gannon-Doak - restored having missed the March mauling.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2025
Romy is so caught up in her business that she’s nearly attacked by a dog on the street until a handsome stranger gives a whistle and stops the mauling moments before disaster.
From Salon ● Dec. 23, 2024
That was when he relived the nightmare of the mauling and felt the ache of being alone, the fear, and yes, still, the anger.
From "Touching Spirit Bear" by Ben Mikaelsen
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.
