maim

verb, noun — 2 senses

maim

verb

US, UK /meɪm/

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

1

To wound seriously; to cause permanent loss of function of a limb or part of the body.

  • He was maimed by a bear.
  • 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.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:
Derived terms
maimed, maimedly, maimedness, maimee, maimer, unmaimed
Related terms
mayhem

maim

noun

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

1

Obsolete A severe, serious wound.

  • it ſequeſtred me from the woonted meanes of my maintenance, which is as great a maime to any mans happineſſe as can bee feared from the hands of miſerie, or the deepe pit of diſpaire wherinto I was falne, beyond my greateſt friendes reach to recouer mee1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 1:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.

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