Etymology From Middle English malet, maylet, from Old French mallet, maillet (“a wooden hammer, mallet”), diminutive of mal, mail (“a hammer”), from Latin malleus (“a hammer, mall, mallet”).
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A type of hammer with a larger-than-usual head made of wood, rubber or similar non-iron material, used by woodworkers for driving a tool, such as a chisel. A kind of maul.
Carpenters use mallets for assembling.
We used a mallet to drive the tent pegs into the ground.
The Mallet of arms, according to the representation of it given by Father Daniel, exactly resembles the wooden instrument of that name, now in use, except in the length of the handle, it was like the hammer of arms, to be used with both hands, indeed it differed very little from that weapon in its form.1786, Francis Grose, A Treatise on Ancient Armour and Weapons, page 51:
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Entertainment, Lifestyle, Music A small hammer-like tool used for playing certain musical instruments.
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Games A light beetle with a long handle used in playing croquet.
I had had no opportunity as yet of passing on Poirot’s message to Lawrence. But now, as I strolled out on the lawn, still nursing a grudge against my friend’s high-handedness, I saw Lawrence on the croquet lawn, aimlessly knocking a couple of very ancient balls about, with a still more ancient mallet.1920, Agatha Christie, The Mysterious Affair at Styles, London: Pan Books, published 1954, page 120:
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Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The stick used to strike the ball in the sport of polo.
I regularly have cause to recall a scene from a novel called Madder Music, by Peter de Vries, in which the main character, a writer who specialises in polo, hears a match announcer telling newcomers to the ground that, contrary to popular belief, the ball is struck with the side of the mallet, rather than the end.2016 September 13, Tim Dowling, “Order force: the old grammar rule we all obey without realising”, in The Guardian:
Etymology From Middle English malet, maylet, from Old French mallet, maillet (“a wooden hammer, mallet”), diminutive of mal, mail (“a hammer”), from Latin malleus (“a hammer, mall, mallet”).
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To beat or strike with, or as if with, a mallet.
[…] and when a couple of insurgents ran in to make the capture she malleted them with her rifle.2007, John Geddes, Highway to Hell, page 220:
Etymology Derived from the name of the inventor, Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet.
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A type of articulated locomotive having two powered trucks, with the rear truck being rigidly attached to the main body and boiler of the locomotive, while the front powered truck is attached to the rear by a hinge, so that it may swing from side to side, and with the front end of the boiler resting upon a sliding bearing on the swinging front truck.
Its 50 H-7 2-8-8-2's (30 of which found their way onto the Union Pacific roster in 1945) were simple mainly because a tunnel in the Alleghenies would not accommodate the low-pressure cylinders of any Mallet larger than a 2-6-6-2.1959, David P. Morgan, editor, Steam's Finest Hour, Kalmbach Publishing Co., page 60, referring to the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway:
Primarily a coal-hauling road from the mines of the Appalachian coalfield over the mountains to the Atlantic coast, the Norfolk & Western had long maintained that nothing could equal its superbly efficient articulated Mallet locomotives for the haulage of immense weights over mountain grades, and it continued to build steam locomotives in its shops at Roanoke until 1953.1961 July, J. Geoffrey Todd, “Impressions of railroading in the United States: Part Two”, in Trains Illustrated, page 419: