Contextualizebeta

mayhem

noun
/ˈmeɪ̯ˌhɛm//ˈmeɪəm/US

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English mayehem, late form of maym, from Anglo-Norman mahaim (“mutilation”), from Old French meshaing (“bodily harm, loss of limb”), from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to cripple, injure”) (compare Middle High German meidem, meiden (“gelding”), Old Norse meiða (“to injure”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌹𐌳𐌾𐌰𐌽 (maidjan, “to alter, falsify”)), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“to change”). More at mad. The original meaning referred to the crime of maiming; the other senses derived from this. Another possible etymology derives the Old French from Provençal maganhar, composed of mal (“evil”) and ganhar (“to obtain, receive”) (compare with Spanish ganar and Italian gavagnare and guadagnare), so literally "to obtain, receive something evil". The sense "chaos" may have arisen by popular misunderstanding of the common journalese expression "rioting and mayhem".

  1. derived from *mey-✻
  2. derived from *maidijaną✻
  3. derived from meshaing
  4. derived from mahaim
  5. inherited from mayehem

Definitions

  1. A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction

    A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.

    • to cause mayhem
    • What if the legendary hero Robin Hood had been born into the mayhem of the 20th century?
    • In all the mayhem, some children were separated from their parents.

  2. Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing.

    • The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.
    • This same man,[…], beat himself weary upon me with a raw hide, I not resisting, and then pantingly threatened me with permanent disfiguring mayhem, if ever again I should introduce his name into print, […]
    • “Tell me,” I said, “when one surrenders his personal feelings to his professional feelings, may not the action be defined as a sort of spiritual mayhem?”

  3. The maiming of a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs which are…

    The maiming of a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs which are necessary for defense or protection.

    • to commit mayhem
    • There is a story told of a case where a notorious character was charged with the unusual crime of “mayhem”—biting off another man's finger. The defendant's counsel secured adjournment after adjournment—no one knew why.
    • "Well, it's a funny thing, but I can't get rid of the impression that at some point in my researches into the night life of London yestreen I fell upon some person to whom I had never been introduced and committed mayhem upon his person."
  4. ›+ 2 more definitions

    1. The crime of damaging things or harming people on purpose.

    2. To commit mayhem.

      • the king shal punish him for mayheming of his subject

The neighborhood

Derived

Bayhem, mayhemic, Mayhem Parva

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for mayhem. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA