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:
After the long break, Wales kept their composure as Morgan was driven over from another rolling maul as Tandy's side found themselves in the lead.
From BBC ● Jul. 4, 2026
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
Leading 27-17 with half-time looming, Ellis Genge was sin-binned after referee Nika Amashukeli ruled the prop had dragged down a maul, soon after two quick penalties had handed momentum back to France.
From BBC ● Mar. 16, 2026
He could be found on fall afternoons with a rake in hand, or a splitting maul perhaps.
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
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
They cross the line once in every five mauls, an efficiency unmatched by anyone else.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2025
Wooden clubs, stone axes, mauls, spears with fire-hardened points, knives of bone and stone and dragon- glass, wicker shields, bone armor, boiled leather.
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
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
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
The Yankees mauled and mashed and manhandled the Dodgers in Game 4 of the World Series on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, staving off a sweep with an 11-4 victory.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2024
Instead, she would speak in chewed fingernails and mauled cuticles, nervous scratching and upset stomachs, habits that frustrated and angered her mother, but in the anger, there was space.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
Despite the scale of the electoral mauling no immediate move was made to challenge his leadership and cabinet colleagues appeared to publicly rally round.
From Barron's ● May 9, 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
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
Rodgers faced intense criticism in the aftermath of the Dortmund mauling and a debate about whether he was willing to adapt dominated the build-up to Wednesday's game.
From BBC ● Oct. 23, 2024
“I suppose in Weep they just go around mauling one another like bear wrestlers.”
From "Strange the Dreamer" by Laini Taylor
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.
