Adjacent Words

Mangle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MAN'GLE, v.t.
1. To cut with a dull instrument and tear, or to tear in cutting; to cut in a bungling manner; applied chiefly to the cutting of flesh.
And seized with fear, forgot his mangled meat.
2. To curtail; to take by piece-meal.
MAN'GLE, n. [L. mango.]
1. A rolling press or calendar for smoothing cloth.
2. A name of the mangrove, which see.
MAN'GLE, v.t. To smooth cloth with a mangle; to calendar.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: clothes dryer for drying and ironing laundry by passing it between two heavy heated rollers v
1: press with a mangle; "mangle the sheets"
2: injure badly by beating [syn: maul, mangle]
3: alter so as to make unrecognizable; "The tourists murdered the French language" [syn: mangle, mutilate, murder]
4: destroy or injure severely; "The madman mutilates art work" [syn: mutilate, mangle, cut up]

Merriam Webster's

I. transitive verb (mangled; mangling) Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French mangler, mahangler, perhaps from mahaigner to maim — more at mayhem Date: 15th century 1. to injure with deep disfiguring wounds by cutting, tearing, or crushing <people…mangled by sharks — V. G. Heiser> 2. to spoil, injure, or make incoherent especially through ineptitude <a story mangled beyond recognition> Synonyms: see maim • mangler noun II. noun Etymology: Dutch mangel, from German, from Middle High German, diminutive of mange mangonel, mangle, from Latin manganum Date: 1696 a machine for ironing laundry by passing it between heated rollers III. transitive verb (mangled; mangling) Date: circa 1775 to press or smooth (as damp linen) with a mangle • mangler noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. n. & v. esp. Brit. hist. --n. a machine having two or more cylinders usu. turned by a handle, between which wet clothes etc. are squeezed and pressed. --v.tr. press (clothes etc.) in a mangle. Etymology: Du. mangel(stok) f. mangelen to mangle, ult. f. Gk magganon + stok staff, STOCK 2. v.tr. 1 hack, cut about, or mutilate by blows etc. 2 spoil (a quotation, text, etc.) by misquoting, mispronouncing, etc. 3 cut roughly so as to disfigure. Derivatives: mangler n. Etymology: AF ma(ha)ngler, app. frequent. of mahaignier MAIM

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mangle Man"gle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mangled; p. pr. & vb. n. Mangling.] [A frequentative fr. OE. manken to main, AS. mancian, in bemancian to mutilate, fr. L. mancus maimed; perh. akin to G. mangeln to be wanting.] 1. To cut or bruise with repeated blows or strokes, making a ragged or torn wound, or covering with wounds; to tear in cutting; to cut in a bungling manner; to lacerate; to mutilate. Mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail. --Milton. 2. To mutilate or injure, in making, doing, or pertaining; as, to mangle a piece of music or a recitation. To mangle a play or a novel. --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mangle Man"gle, v. t. [Cf. D. mangelen. See Mangle, n.] To smooth with a mangle, as damp linen or cloth.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Mangle Man"gle, n. [D. mangel, fr. OE. mangonel a machine for throwing stones, LL. manganum, Gr. ? a machine for defending fortifications, axis of a pulley. Cf. Mangonel.] A machine for smoothing linen or cotton cloth, as sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and clothing, by roller pressure. Mangle rack (Mach.), a contrivance for converting continuous circular motion into reciprocating rectilinear motion, by means of a rack and pinion, as in the mangle. The pinion is held to the rack by a groove in such a manner that it passes alternately from one side of the rack to the other, and thus gives motion to it in opposite directions, according to the side in which its teeth are engaged. Mangle wheel, a wheel in which the teeth, or pins, on its face, are interrupted on one side, and the pinion, working in them, passes from inside to outside of the teeth alternately, thus converting the continuous circular motion of the pinion into a reciprocating circular motion of the wheel.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(mangles, mangling, mangled) 1. If a physical object is mangled, it is crushed or twisted very forcefully, so that it is difficult to see what its original shape was. His body was crushed and mangled beyond recognition. ...the mangled wreckage. VERB: usu passive, be V-ed, V-ed 2. If you say that someone mangles words or information, you are criticizing them for not speaking or writing clearly or correctly. They don't know what they're talking about and mangle scientific information. VERB: V n [disapproval]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. 1. Lacerate, hack, tear (in cutting), mutilate. 2. Mutilate, mar, destroy, spoil, maim. 3. Polish, smooth, calender, press with a mangle.

Moby Thesaurus

bung up, butcher, calender, contort, cripple, crush, cut, damage, deface, defoliate, deform, denude, destroy, disfigure, dismember, distort, draw and quarter, flay, hack, hot-press, impair, injure, iron, lacerate, maim, mar, maul, mutilate, peel, pick to pieces, press, pull apart, roll, ruin, shred, skin, spoil, strip, take apart, tear apart, tear to pieces, tear to tatters, wreck