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
-
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
-
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
-
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
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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:
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
True to last year's script it was the women in blue who struck first, their driving maul proving unstoppable, with Sgorbini claiming the bonus-point.
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
He rolled them over with a peavey and pounded them with the flat face of a splitting maul, testing for the ringing tone that indicated soundness.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
"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
You would expect Talling to be tasked with combating the brilliance of De Goede, with her work at mauls a potential way to expend some of the Canadian's energy.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
Line-outs went astray, mauls were jammed up and disrupted, the continuity wouldn't come.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2025
Giants lumbered amongst them, forty feet tall, with mauls the size of oak trees.
From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin
She went on to be the UN rights chief, a sensitive role in which she alienated some countries, especially China, which mauled her for reporting on Beijing's alleged abuses of the country's Uyghur minority group.
From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026
More recently, he appeared in “Fallout” just long enough for his character to be mauled to death by a mutant bear.
From Salon ● Jan. 15, 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
He mentioned the Golden Gophers having beaten conference front-runner Michigan, their excellent help defense and their having mauled USC in the paint last weekend during a victory at the Galen Center.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 19, 2025
The Austrians, meanwhile, also were being mauled by their troublesome little neighbor Serbia.
From "The War to End All Wars: World War I" by Russell Freedman
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
While some gleefully joined in the mauling, others were attracted to the film like moths to a flame.
From BBC ● Aug. 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
“But most cat trainers will tell you that getting mauled is not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when and how bad the mauling is going to be.”
From "Storm Runners" by Roland Smith
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.
