maul

[mawl]

noun

1. a heavy hammer, as for driving stakes or wedges.

2. Archaic.,  a heavy club or mace.

verb (used with object)

1. to handle or use roughly.

   The book was badly mauled by its borrowers.

2. to injure by a rough beating, shoving, or the like; bruise.

   to be mauled by an angry crowd.

3. to split with a maul and wedge, as a wooden rail.

maul

/ mɔːl /

verb

1. to handle clumsily; paw

2. to batter or lacerate

noun

1. a heavy two-handed hammer suitable for driving piles, wedges, etc

2. rugby a loose scrum that forms around a player who is holding the ball and on his feet

Other Word Forms

• mauler noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of maul¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of maul¹

C13: from Old French mail, from Latin malleus hammer. See _mallet

Example Sentences

He used to present as a staid mainline Episcopalian, but now he denounces that church and speaks of being “mauled by demons.”

Read more on 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.

Read more on Barron's

In 2009, the park made international headlines after a rare white tiger mauled a zoo keeper to death in front of horrified tourists.

Read more on BBC

A handler was mauled to death by a white tiger inside the park in 2009.

Read more on Barron's

The Yemeni Houthis have been severely mauled by Israeli air power, with little to show for their many attempts to attack the Jewish state.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• beat up 
• bludgeon 
• drub 
• lacerate 
• molest 
• mug 
• pummel 
• rough up 
• thrash 
• trample