noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A heavy long-handled hammer, used for splitting logs by driving a wedge into them, or in combat.
2. 2
   a heavy long-handled hammer used to drive stakes or wedges wordnet
3. 3
   A situation where the player carrying the ball, who must be on his feet, is held by one or more opponents, and one or more of the ball carrier's team mates bind onto the ball carrier.
4. 4
   The fruit of the Washingtonia species.

Verb

1. 1
   To handle someone or something in a rough way.
2. 2
   injure badly by beating wordnet
3. 3
   To savage; to cause serious physical wounds. usually

   "The bear mauled him in a terrible way."

4. 4
   split (wood) with a maul and wedges wordnet
5. 5
   To criticise harshly. figuratively

   "The latest film by the Cohen brothers was mauled by the press, and was a box-office flop to boot."

Show 2 more definitions

6. 6
   To beat with a maul. transitive
7. 7
   To play rough, to fondle intensively. slang

   "28 year old big, burly, bearded grizzly looking for other bears to maul me! Facial/body hair, brains a plus!"

Synonyms

All synonyms

abuseabradeabuseadmonishanimadvertannoy

Example

More examples

"Chimpanzees have been known to maul their owners."

Etymology

From Middle English malle (“mace, maul”), from Anglo-Norman mail, from Old French mail, from Latin malleus (“hammer”). Doublet of malleus.

Related phrases

driving maulmaul oak

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.