Maimen

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Archaic term meaning to deliberately mutilate or cripple a person or animal by inflicting a serious bodily injury
2. To disfigure or permanently disable someone through violent harm, a usage found in older English writing
3. Describing the act of wounding a body so severely that a limb or function is lost, as recorded in historical English

Etymology: "Maimen" is a Middle English verb, borrowed from Anglo-Norman or Old French "mehaignier," meaning to wound or injure so as to disable a body part. The Old French form traces to a Frankish or Germanic source related to the Old High German word for a limb or body part, though the exact Germanic ancestor is debated among scholars. The English form is recorded in Middle English, and it has a legal flavour: "maim" was used in medieval English law for the crime of mutilating someone so that they could no longer fight, a concern that mattered greatly in a society built on armed combat. Over time the sense narrowed in ordinary use to physical injury that leaves lasting damage, and later extended to figurative uses such as a reputation or a plan being "maimed."

Synonyms: maim, cripple, mutilate

Antonyms: heal, mend