Maim

5 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Maim \Maim\, n. [Written in law language {maihem}, and
     {mayhem}.] [OF. mehaing. See {Maim}, v.]
     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.
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. The privation of any necessary part; a crippling;
        mutilation; injury; deprivation of something essential.
        See {Mayhem}.
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              Surely there is more cause to fear lest the want
              there of be a maim than the use of it a blemish.
                                                    --Hooker.
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              A noble author esteems it to be a maim in history
              that the acts of Parliament should not be recited.
                                                    --Hayward.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Maim \Maim\ (m[=a]m), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Maimed} (m[=a]md);p.
     pr. & vb. n. {Maiming}.] [OE. maimen, OF. mahaignier,
     mehaignier, meshaignier, cf. It. magagnare, LL. mahemiare,
     mahennare; perh. of Celtic origin; cf. Armor. mac'ha[~n]a to
     mutilate, m[=a]c'ha to crowd, press; or cf. OHG. mang[=o]n 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.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              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.
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     2. To mutilate; to cripple; to injure; to disable; to impair.
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              My late maimed limbs lack wonted might. --Spenser.
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              You maimed the jurisdiction of all bishops. --Shak.
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     Syn: To mutilate; mangle; cripple.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  maim
       v : injure or wound seriously and leave permanent disfiguration
           or mutilation; "people were maimed by the explosion"

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  99 Moby Thesaurus words for "maim":
     abrade, bark, batter, blemish, bloody, break, bugger, bung up,
     burn, castrate, chafe, check, chip, claw, crack, craze, cripple,
     cut, damage, de-energize, debilitate, defoliate, denude, disable,
     disenable, disfigure, dismember, drain, draw and quarter,
     emasculate, enfeeble, flay, fracture, fray, frazzle, fret, gall,
     gash, hamstring, harm, hobble, hors de combat, hurt, impair,
     inactivate, incapacitate, incise, injure, kibosh, lacerate, lame,
     make mincemeat of, mangle, massacre, maul, mayhem, mutilate, peel,
     pick to pieces, pierce, pull apart, puncture, put, queer,
     queer the works, rend, rip, run, rupture, sabotage, savage, scald,
     scorch, scotch, scrape, scratch, scuff, shred, skin, slash, slit,
     spike, sprain, stab, stick, strain, strip, take apart, tear,
     tear apart, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, traumatize, unfit,
     weaken, wing, wound, wreck, wrench
  
  

From Bouvier's Law Dictionary, Revised 6th Ed (1856) [bouvier]:

  MAIM, pleadings. This is a technical word necessary to be introduced into 
  all indictments for mayhem; the words "feloniously did maim," must of 
  necessity be inserted, because no other word, or any circumlocution, will 
  answer the same purpose. 4 Inst. 118; Hawk. B. 2, c. 23, s. 17, 18, 77; 
  Hawk. B. 2, c. 25, s, 55; 1 Chit. Cr. Law, *244.