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
- mauler noun
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
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.
Two big cats potentially involved in the suspected New Year's Day mauling were euthanized, state wildlife officials said.
From Barron's
Exeter, defending a single-point lead, were on the ropes late on against Saracens as the hosts fired up their driven maul and motored towards the line.
From BBC
They had Toulouse rocking and they landed another blow, a rolling line-out maul thundering over the try-line with substitute Hiddleston touching down to give Warriors the lead for the first time.
From BBC
He used to present as a staid mainline Episcopalian, but now he denounces that church and speaks of being “mauled by demons.”
From Salon
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
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.
