mayhem

    [mā′hem, mā′əm]
Search YourDictionary Original Definitions
noun
  1. 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.

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Search Webster's New World College Dictionary

noun
  1. 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
  2. any deliberate destruction or violence

Origin: see maim

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

 

Search The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language

noun
  1. Law The offense of willfully maiming or crippling a person.
  2. Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing; wanton destruction: children committing mayhem in the flower beds.
  3. A state of violent disorder or riotous confusion; havoc.

Origin: 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.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition Copyright © 2010 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

mayhem - Legal Definition

Search Webster's New World Law Dictionary

n

Violent, disorderly behavior.
Webster's New World Law Dictionary Copyright © 2010 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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