maim

[meym] /meɪm/
verb (used with object)
1.
to deprive of the use of some part of the body by wounding or the like; cripple:
The explosion maimed him for life.
2.
to impair; make essentially defective:
The essay was maimed by deletion of important paragraphs.
noun, Obsolete
3.
a physical injury, especially a loss of a limb.
4.
an injury or defect; blemish; lack.
Origin
1250-1300; Middle English mayme, variant of mahayme mayhem
Related forms
maimedness, noun
maimer, noun
remaim, verb (used with object)
self-maimed, adjective
unmaimed, adjective
Can be confused
maim, mayhem (see synonym study at the current entry)
Synonyms
1. Maim, lacerate, mangle, mutilate indicate the infliction of painful and severe injuries on the body. To maim is to injure by giving a disabling wound, or by depriving a person of one or more members or their use: maimed in an accident. To lacerate is to inflict severe cuts and tears on the flesh or skin: to lacerate an arm. To mangle is to chop undiscriminatingly or to crush or rend by blows or pressure, as if by machinery: bodies mangled in a train wreck. To mutilate is to injure the completeness or beauty of a body, especially by cutting off an important member: to mutilate a statue, a tree, a person. 2. injure, disable, deface, mar.
Examples from the web for maim
  • The games reportedly maim and wound thousands of horses each year.
  • Members of this blogger's apparently vast audience threatened to sue me, maim me or get me fired.
  • Every at-bat is critical now, and every forsaken opportunity could tilt a game and help maim their season.
  • And, on rare occasions, rampaging bulls have been known to damage parked cars and maim pedestrians.
  • He wants the world, and if he must tear flesh and maim spirit to get it, so be it.
  • They have been known to maim rebellious members as well as outsiders.
  • The violations that destroy human lives, or maim them, seem to demand telling.
  • Designed to maim, they are scattered from helicopters on inhabited areas and important routes.
  • The tails of crocodiles and alligators are formidable weapons used in swimming and to maim their enemies or prey.
British Dictionary definitions for maim

maim

/meɪm/
verb (transitive)
1.
to mutilate, cripple, or disable a part of the body of (a person or animal)
2.
to make defective
noun
3.
(obsolete) an injury or defect
Derived Forms
maimedness (ˈmeɪmɪdnɪs) noun
maimer, noun
Word Origin
C14: from Old French mahaignier to wound, probably of Germanic origin
Word Origin and History for maim
v.

c.1300, maimen, from Old French mahaignier "injure, wound, muitilate, cripple, disarm," possibly from Vulgar Latin *mahanare (cf. Provençal mayanhar, Italian magagnare), of unknown origin; or possibly from a Germanic source, from Proto-Germanic *mait- (cf. Old Norse meiða "to hurt," related to mad (adj.)), or from PIE root *mai- "to cut." Related: Maimed; maiming.