maul. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

maul


PRONUNCIATION:	môl
NOUN:	1. also mall ( môl) a. A heavy, long-handled hammer used especially to drive stakes, piles, or wedges. b. A heavy hammer having a wedge-shaped head and used for splitting logs. 2. Sports a. A play in Rugby in which a mass of players gathers around a ball carrier being tackled and attempts to gain possession of the ball when it is released. b. The mass of players during such a play.
TRANSITIVE VERB:	Inflected forms: mauled also malled, maul·ing, mall·ing, mauls, malls 1. To injure by or as if by beating: The boxer mauled the other fighter. The critics mauled the novelist's first effort. See synonyms at batter¹. 2. To handle roughly: The package was mauled by the careless messenger. 3. To split (wood) with a maul and wedge.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English malle, from Old French mail, from Latin malleus. See mel- in Appendix I.
OTHER FORMS:	mauler —NOUN


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.