Mayhem dictionary definition

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mayhem

[mā′hem, mā′əm]

Use mayhem in a sentence

noun

Mayhem is defined as violence, damage or chaos, or the crime of crippling or mutilating a victim.
1. An example of mayhem is a mosh pit that gets out of control at a rock concert.
2. An example of mayhem is a person causing a victim to not be able to walk.

mayhem

noun

Law the offense of maiming a person; specif.,
1. the intentional mutilation of another's body
2. injury inflicted on another so as to cause loss of a bodily part or function necessary for self-defense
any deliberate destruction or violence

Origin of mayhem

see maim

mayhem

noun

Law The criminal offense of willfully maiming, disabling, or disfiguring a person.
Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing; wanton destruction: children committing mayhem in the flower beds.
A state of violent disorder or riotous confusion; havoc.

Origin of mayhem

Middle English maim, mayhem, from Anglo-Norman maihem, from Old French mahaigne, injury, from mahaignier, to maim, from Vulgar Latin *mahanāre, probably of Germanic origin.

mayhem

Noun

(usually uncountable, plural mayhems)

A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.
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 partners.
She waded into the mayhem, elbowing between taller men to work her way to the front of the crowd.
The clowns would dart into the crowd and pull another unsuspecting victim into the mayhem of the ring
Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing.
The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.
(law) The maiming of a person by depriving him of the use of any of his limbs which are necessary for defense or protection.
(law) The crime of damaging things or harming people on purpose.

Origin

Middle English mayme, mahaime, from Anglo-Norman mahaim (“mutilation”), from Old French mahaign (“bodily harm, loss of limb”), from Germanic, from Proto-Germanic *maidijaną (“to cripple, injure”) (compare Middle High German meidem, meiden 'gelding', Old Norse meiða 'to injure', Gothic maidjan 'to alter, falsify'), from Proto-Indo-European *mei (“to change”). More at mad. The original meaning referred to the crime of maiming, the other senses derived from this.