Mutilate MU'TILATE, v.t. [L. mutilo, probably from the root of meto, to
cut off.] 1. To cut off a limb or essential part of an animal body. To
cut off the hand or foot is to mutilate the body or the person. 2. To
cut or break off, or otherwise separate any important part, as of a statue
or building. 3. To retrench, destroy or remove any material part, so
as to render the thing imperfect; as, to mutilate the poems of Homer or
the orations of Cicero. Among the mutilated poets of antiquity,there
is none whose fragments are so beautiful as those of Sappho.
mutilate
v 1: destroy or injure severely; "The madman mutilates art work"
[syn: mutilate, mangle, cut up]
2: alter so as to make unrecognizable; "The tourists murdered
the French language" [syn: mangle, mutilate, murder]
3: destroy or injure severely; "mutilated bodies" [syn:
mutilate, mar]
mutilate transitive verb (-lated; -lating)
Etymology: Latin mutilatus, past participle of mutilare,
from mutilus truncated, maimed Date: 1534 1. to cut up
or alter radically so as to make imperfect <the child mutilated
the book with his scissors> 2. to cut off or permanently destroy
a limb or essential part of ;crippleSynonyms:seemaim • mutilationnoun • mutilatornoun
mutilate v.tr. 1 a deprive (a person or animal) of a limb or organ. b destroy the use of (a limb or organ). 2 render (a book etc.) imperfect by excision or some act of
destruction. Derivatives: mutilation n. mutilative adj. mutilator n. Etymology: L mutilare f. mutilus maimed
mutilate
(mutilates, mutilating, mutilated)
1. If a person or animal is mutilated, their body is severely damaged, usually by
someone who physically attacks them.
More than 30 horses have been mutilated in the last nine months...He tortured and mutilated six young men...The mutilated bodies of seven men have been found beside a railway line.VERB: be V-ed, V n, V-ed
• mutilation (mutilations)Amnesty International chronicles cases of torture and mutilation...N-VAR
2. If something is mutilated, it is deliberately damaged or spoiled.
Brecht's verdict was that his screenplay had been mutilated...VERB: be V-ed, also V n
mutilate
ˈmju:tɪleɪt v.tr. 1 a deprive (a person or animal) of a limb
or organ. b destroy the use of (a limb or organ). 2 render (a book
etc.) imperfect by excision or some act of destruction. øømutilation
n. mutilative adj. mutilator n. [L mutilare f. mutilus maimed]
Mutilate \Mu"ti*late\, a. [L. mutilatus, p. p. of mutilare to
mutilate, fr. mutilus maimed; cf. Gr. ?, ?. Cf. Mutton.]
1. Deprived of, or having lost, an important part; mutilated.
--Sir T. Browne.
2. (Zo["o]l.) Having finlike appendages or flukes instead of
legs, as a cetacean.
Mutilate \Mu"ti*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Mutilated; p. pr. &
vb. n. Mutilating.]
1. To cut off or remove a limb or essential part of; to maim;
to cripple; to hack; as, to mutilate the body, a statue,
etc.
2. To destroy or remove a material part of, so as to render
imperfect; as, to mutilate the orations of Cicero.
Among the mutilated poets of antiquity, there is
none whose fragments are so beautiful as those of
Sappho. --Addison.
Mutilated gear, Mutilated wheel (Mach.), a gear wheel
from a portion of whose periphery the cogs are omitted. It
is used for giving intermittent movements.
mutilate
ˈmju:tɪleɪt v.
1 maim, disfigure, mangle, cripple, lame, butcher, disable; dismember, amputate, hack
off, cut off, lop off, tear off, rip off: Formerly, the hands of thieves were mutilated as an
example to others.
2 spoil, mar, ruin, damage, deface, vandalize, destroy: As the book had been mutilated,
he had to buy the library a replacement.
On most web browsers you can double click any word on this page to see what definitions I have for that word.
This dictionary server is not an authoratative source of information for anything. Like almost everything at sorabji.com, I set this up for my own purposes. In this case the purpose is to
browse words and ideas at random. An automatically generated page that produces 1000 Random Words
is my gateway to this resource. I also attempt a word of the day project,
in which I attempt to write something about myself starting with interesting words that I find through the Wordswarm Random Words Pages. I have made
available the complete 1828 Webster's Dictionary, which many feel is the greatest English dictionary ever published.
Other random links of mine include the Sorabji.com Random Link, which sends you to one of
over 7,000 pages on my web sites; the Face Server produces random images of
human faces; clicking the Random WAYD link shows you a random posting to my "What Are You Doing?" board; the Random USPS
Mailbox link sends you to a page with information about a random mailbox; and the random pictures page page of sorabji.com shows one of over 11,000 random images any time you load the page. On an unrelated note, I have begun making several thousand pages of legal documents searchable.