maim

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English

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Etymology

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From Middle English maymen, mahaymen, from Anglo-Norman maheimer, mahaigner, of Germanic origin; see mayhem.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /meɪm/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪm

Verb

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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.
    Synonym: mutilate
    He was maimed by a bear.
    • 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider []”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, [], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter I (Anarchy), pages 377–378:
      Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local color) 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.

Derived terms

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Translations

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Noun

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maim (plural maims)

  1. (obsolete) A severe, serious wound.

Anagrams

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Middle English

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Noun

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maim

  1. Alternative form of maym

Tocharian B

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Etymology

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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 and Old Irish midithir), or alternatively to *meh₁-ye/o- from *meh₁- (to measure) (whence Latin mētior). Compare Tocharian A mem.

Noun

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maim m

  1. thought, thinking
    Enenkaś paspārtau cwi maim palskw attsaik.
    Completely turned inward [is] his thought and spirit.