Other forms: mauled, mauling, mauls
To maul is to attack and tear at somebody savagely. Mauled by a dog, mauled the victim, badly mauled.
It is used of animals attacking rather than of people, and it implies tearing rather than a single bite. Figuratively a book or a policy can be mauled by critics. In rugby a maul is a specific set of players bound together. Note that the noun maul is a heavy hammer, which is the older sense.
1verbmaulTo attack and tear at somebody savagely.
“The hiker was mauled by a bear but managed to crawl back to his car.”
2nounheavyA heavy hammer.
“He split the logs with a heavy maul and a pair of iron wedges.”
maul is a savage attacking.
Old French mail means a mallet, from Latin malleus, a hammer. Malleable comes from the same hammering.
Latin
malleus — hammer
Old French
Anglo-Norman
Middle English
malle — mace, maul
English, today
maul
From Middle English malle (“mace, maul”), from Anglo-Norman mail, from Old French mail, from Latin malleus (“hammer”). a doublet of malleus.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA