mangle1

[mang-guh l] /ˈmæŋ gəl/
verb (used with object), mangled, mangling.
1.
to injure severely, disfigure, or mutilate by cutting, slashing, or crushing:
The coat sleeve was mangled in the gears of the machine.
2.
to spoil; ruin; mar badly:
to mangle a text by careless typesetting.
Origin
1350-1400; Middle English < Anglo-French mangler, perhaps dissimilated variant of Old French mangonner to mangle; akin to mangonel
Related forms
mangler, noun
Synonyms
1. See maim. 2. deface; destroy.

mangle2

[mang-guh l] /ˈmæŋ gəl/
noun
1.
a machine for smoothing or pressing clothes, household linen, etc., by means of heated rollers.
verb (used with object), mangled, mangling.
2.
to smooth or press with a mangle.
3.
Metalworking. to squeeze (metal plates) between rollers.
Origin
1765-75; < Dutch mangel ≪ Late Latin manganum. See mangonel
Examples from the web for mangle
  • No joke, however robust, can stand the strain of being run through the legislative mangle.
  • Maybe you'll mangle his paper clips, leave a book open on the wrong page, or hide his basket of artificial petunias.
  • mangle other animal life all you want, but manipulating microscopic human cells now you've gone too far.
  • Adobe's software lets you mash, merge, and mangle images to create the world you want to see.
  • If more electrical cables were placed under sidewalks to give utilities one less reason to mangle city streets.
  • Instead they must mangle text in new ways when attackers figure out how to cope with existing distortions.
  • They prove it every time their cars bang into walls or mangle their garden tools while pulling in and out of their garages.
  • Friend you only have a few posts, you might reregister with a name that the censoring software doesn't mangle.
  • All she manages is to mangle the facts regarding all three, doing a disservice to both historical and moral truth.
  • They can severely damage organs, mangle cells, and split through blood vessels.
British Dictionary definitions for mangle

mangle1

/ˈmæŋɡəl/
verb (transitive)
1.
to mutilate, disfigure, or destroy by cutting, crushing, or tearing
2.
to ruin, spoil, or mar
Derived Forms
mangler, noun
mangled, adjective
Word Origin
C14: from Norman French mangler, probably from Old French mahaignier to maim

mangle2

/ˈmæŋɡəl/
noun
1.
Also called wringer. a machine for pressing or drying wet textiles, clothes, etc, consisting of two heavy rollers between which the cloth is passed
verb (transitive)
2.
to press or dry in a mangle
Word Origin
C18: from Dutch mangel, ultimately from Late Latin manganum. See mangonel
Word Origin and History for mangle
v.

"to mutilate," c.1400, from Anglo-French mangler, frequentative of Old French mangoner "cut to pieces," of uncertain origin, perhaps connected with Old French mahaignier "to maim, mutilate, wound" (see maim). Meaning "to mispronounce (words), garble" is from 1530s. Related: Mangled; mangling.

n.

clothes-pressing machine, 1774, from Dutch mangel, apparently short for mangelstok, from stem of mangelen to mangle, from Middle Dutch mange, ultimately from root of mangonel.

mangle in Technology


Used similarly to mung or scribble, but more violent in its connotations; something that is mangled has been irreversibly and totally trashed.