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Webster 1913 Edition


Maim

Maim

(mām)
,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Maimed
(māmd)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Maiming
.]
[OE.
maimen
, OF.
mahaignier
,
mehaignier
,
meshaignier
, cf. It.
magagnare
, LL.
mahemiare
,
mahennare
; perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Armor.
mac’haña
to mutilate,
māc'ha
to crowd, press; or cf. OHG.
mangōn
to lack, perh. akin to E.
mangle
to lacerate. Cf.
Mayhem
.]
1.
To deprive of the use of a limb, so as to render a person in fighting less able either to defend himself or to annoy his adversary.
By the ancient law of England he that
maimed
any man whereby he lost any part of his body, was sentenced to lose the like part.
Blackstone.
2.
To mutilate; to cripple; to injure; to disable; to impair.
My late
maimed
limbs lack wonted might.
Spenser.
You
maimed
the jurisdiction of all bishops.
Shakespeare
Syn. – To mutilate; mangle; cripple.

Maim

,
Noun.
[Written in law language
maihem
, and
mayhem
.]
[OF.
mehaing
. See
Maim
,
Verb.
]
1.
The privation of the use of a limb or member of the body, by which one is rendered less able to defend himself or to annoy his adversary.
2.
The privation of any necessary part; a crippling; mutilation; injury; deprivation of something essential. See
Mayhem
.
Surely there is more cause to fear lest the want there of be a
maim
than the use of it a blemish.
Hooker.
A noble author esteems it to be a
maim
in history that the acts of Parliament should not be recited.
Hayward.

Webster 1828 Edition


Maim

MAIM

, v.t.
1.
To deprive of the use of a limb, so as to render a person less able to defend himself in fighting, or to annoy his adversary.
2.
To deprive of a necessary part; to cripple; to disable.
You maim'd the jurisdiction of all bishops.

MAIM

,
Noun.
[written in law-language, mayhem.]
1.
The privation of the use of a limb or member of the body, so as to render the sufferer less able to defend himself or to annoy his adversary.
2.
The privation of any necessary part; a crippling.
Surely there is more cause to fear lest the want thereof be a maim, than the use of it a blemish.
3.
Injury; mischief.
4.
Essential defect.
A noble author esteems it to be a maim in history. [Not used.]

Definition 2024


maim

maim

English

Verb

maim (third-person singular simple present maims, present participle maiming, simple past and past participle maimed)

  1. To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter I:
      Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust from which gnarled and rusty stalks thrust themselves up like withered elfin limbs.

Synonyms

Translations

Derived terms

Anagrams


Tocharian B

Etymology

From Proto-Tocharian *meim, a nominal derivative of *mei- ("to measure"). Possibly linked to Proto-Indo-European *mod-ye/o- or *mēdye/o-, derivatives of *med- (to measure, give advice, heal) (whence Latin meditor), or alternatively to *meh₁-ye/o- from *meh₁- (to measure) (whence Latin mētior). Compare Tocharian A mem.

Noun

maim

  1. thought, thinking
    enenkaś paspārtau cwi maim palskw attsaik
    "completely turned inward [is] his thought and spirit"