maul

Plural: mauls

Noun

• a heavy long-handled hammer used to drive stakes or wedges
• A heavy long-handled hammer, used for splitting logs by driving a wedge into them, or in combat.
• 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.

Verb

Verb Forms: mauled, mauling, mauls

• To injure badly by beating or tearing.
• split (wood) with a maul and wedges
• injure badly by beating
• To handle someone or something in a rough way.
• To savage; to cause serious physical wounds (usually used of an animal).
• To criticise harshly.
• To beat with a maul.

Examples

• He wanted to maul his opponent’s score, but his letters wouldn’t cooperate.
• The bear mauled him in a terrible way.
• The latest film by the Cohen brothers was mauled by the press, and was a box-office flop to boot.

Synonyms

mangle, sledge, sledgehammer, abuse, admonish, animadvert, annoy, bash, bawl out, berate, berisp, bewound, blast, castigate, censure, chastise, chew out, chide, club, condemn, criticize, damage, damnify, denounce, denunciate, dere, do damage to, do for, do ill, do violence to, drag, dress down, eat someone alive, excoriate, find fault, forwork, fulminate, get down, get up, give somebody a piece of one's mind, give somebody what-for, grieve, harm, harrow, hurt, injure, inveigh, lace into, lambaste, lecture, light into, mace, maul, misdo, mishandle, misuse, objurgate, pooh-pooh, put someone in hospital, put someone on blast, rate, read somebody the riot act, rebuke, reprehend, reprimand, reproach, reprove, rip into, rubbish, savage, scaith, scathe, scold, slam, tear into, tell off, threap, tick off, tosh, upbraid, vilify, vituperate, vulnerate, wet, wound

Related Words

mall, mallet, ruck, scrum

Anagrams of maul