maul
Americannoun
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a heavy hammer, as for driving stakes or wedges.
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Archaic. a heavy club or mace.
verb (used with object)
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to handle or use roughly.
The book was badly mauled by its borrowers.
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to injure by a rough beating, shoving, or the like; bruise.
to be mauled by an angry crowd.
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to split with a maul and wedge, as a wooden rail.
verb
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to handle clumsily; paw
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to batter or lacerate
noun
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a heavy two-handed hammer suitable for driving piles, wedges, etc
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rugby a loose scrum that forms around a player who is holding the ball and on his feet
Other Word Forms
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
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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.
An unstoppable rolling maul was finished by Erdocio, and the champions-in-waiting had their seventh try, while Leo Coly picked up where Miotti left off with his first conversion of the game.
From BBC • May 22, 2026
Wales stayed in the fight, and while usually conceding on the stroke of half-time, pulled one back off another well-worked driving maul, with Jones dotting down.
From BBC • May 17, 2026
Hooker Amy Cokayne rumbled over at the back of the maul, and replacement prop Sarah Bern also crashed through from close range twice.
From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026
Wales hit back almost immediately off line-out ball, Kelsey Jones finding Bethan Lewis before joining the back of the rolling maul and dotting down.
From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026
“You have very limited powers of spontaneous thought. I knew you’d thought that up a long time ago. I maul you when it’s just my mind against your mind.”
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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.
