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

Derived Forms

• ˈmauler, noun

Other Words From

• maul·er 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

Maul became the party chairman of his city council district starting around 2016.

From ProPublica

A splitting maul is basically a heavy steel wedge on a wood, fiberglass, or metal handle.

From Popular-Science

The wedge-shaped maul head is specifically designed for, and highly efficient at, splitting—significantly better than the thin, relatively lightweight head of an axe.

From Popular-Science

The maul takes up almost no storage space and requires no maintenance.

From Popular-Science

A wedge-shaped splitting maul is still the simplest, most reliable, most portable tool for splitting firewood.

From Popular-Science

With a lot of forethought, he wields an 8-pound maul through timber.

From The Daily Beast

Another man, Stephen Maul of San Francisco, was arrested on two separate occasions in 2000 for biting his dog.

From The Daily Beast

There are few things more congenial to certain gentlemen than a chance to maul an easy victim.

From Project Gutenberg

Ignorant societies for the "suppression of vice" maul over our literature and our art.

From Project Gutenberg

The carpenter, in the eyes of her, swung his maul and knocked out the pin of the chain-stopper, shouting “Stand clear!”

From Project Gutenberg

Oscar had asked when he saw the maul-rings taken out of the wagon on their arrival and unloading.

From Project Gutenberg

It was probably a case of numbness; you maul your thumb with a hammer and it will hurt just so long before it stops.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

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