▪ I. maim, n. Obs. or arch.
(meɪm)
Forms: α. 4 maheym, 4, 6–8 maime, 5 maym, 5–7 mayme, 6 mame, mahayme, 6– maim; β. 5–6 mayne, 6–7 maine. See also mayhem and manyie.
[ME. maheym, mayne, a. OF. mayhem, mahaing, main, etc. (for the forms see Godef.), also fem. meshaigne, maaigne; vbl. n. related to mahaignier maim v. Cf. It. magagna.]
An injury to the body which causes the loss of a limb, or of the use of it; a mutilation, or mutilating wound. † In early use more widely, any lasting wound or bodily injury.
| 1340 Ayenb. 135 He is ase þe y-maymed ate porche of þe cherche þet ne heþ none ssame uor to sseawy alle his maimes to alle þon þet þer guoþ. c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 3432 In werre somtyme a wound had he, A mayme in the hamme behind the kne. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 320/1 Mayne, or hurte (H., P., mayme), mutilacio. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour (1868) 9 Thorughe whiche misauenture the lady was one-yed. And for that foule mayme her husbonde kiste away his herte from his wyff. 1496 Dives & Paup. (W. de W.) v. xviii. 221/2 Ther sholde no man serue at goddes aulter that had ony greate foule mayme. 1519 W. Horman Vulg. 14 b, No man that..hath a mahayme or a blemmysshe, that maketh hym vngoodly, shall take orders. 1552 Elyot Dict., Coloboma, the mayme or lacke of any membre of the body. a 1568 R. Ascham Scholem. ii. (Arb.) 148 As a foote of wood is a plaine shew of a manifest maime. 1601 Holland Pliny I. 170 His Colleagues..would not permit him to be at the solemne sacrifices, because he had a maim, and wanted a lim. 1653 Holcroft Procopius i. 26 The Law excluded him, for his mayme of an eye. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 474 ¶3 The more Maims this Brotherhood [of huntsmen] shall have met with, the easier will their Conversation flow. 1741 Richardson Pamela (1824) I. 87 These bruises and maims that I have gotten. 1764 Foote Mayor of G. i. Wks. 1799 I. 162 Maims, bruises, contusions, dislocations,..may likely ensue. |
b. In generalized sense: Loss or permanent disablement of a limb. In early use, any serious bodily injury.
| c 1386 Chaucer Pars. T. ¶551 For peyne is sent by the rightwys sonde of god,..be it Meselrie, or Maheym or maladie. 14.. in Tundale's Vis. (1843) 91 Hyt cureth sores hyt heleth euery wownd And saveth men fro maym of swyrd and sper. c 1450 Merlin 161 God vs deffende fro deth this day and fro mayme. 1529 in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. xiv. 255 Persones..whiche ys in perell of deth or mayne. 1876 Bancroft Hist. U.S. I. x. 326 A crowd gathered round the scaffold when Prynne and Bastwick and Burton were to suffer maim. |
c. transf. and fig. Mutilation or loss of some essential part; a grave defect, blemish, or disablement; an injury or hurt of any kind.
| c 1475 Partenay 6356 That mariage no mahyme to his kinred. 1543 Grafton Contn. Harding Pref. xii, Whiche bookes, if they had neuer been set out, It had been a greate maime to our knowlage. 1577 Harrison England ii. v. (1877) i. 111 It is accounted a maime in anie one of them [the cleargie] not to be exactlie seene in the Greeke and Hebrue. 1594 Hooker Eccl. Pol. iv. xii. §6 It was a weakenes in the Christian Iewes, and a maime of iudgement in them, that they thought the Gentiles polluted by the eating of those meates [etc.]. 1596 Shakes. 1 Hen. IV, iv. i. 42 Wor. Your Father's sicknesse is a mayme to vs. Hotsp. A perillous Gash, a very Limme lopt off. 1602 Marston Antonio's Rev. i. iv, Cast my life In a dead sleepe, whilst lawe cuts off yon maine, Yon putred ulcer of my roiall bloode. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. i. 679 This without any maime of the name is called at this day Bod-vari, that is Mansion-Vari. a 1627 Hayward Edw. VI (1630) 47 A noble writer in our time esteemes it to be a mayme in historie that acts of Parliament should not bee recited. a 1661 Fuller Worthies (1840) I. xxv. 99 They are so eminent in their generations, that their omission would make a maim in history. 1689–90 Temple Ess., Learning Wks. 1731 I. 168 The last Maim given to Learning, has been by the Scorn of Pedantry. 1704 Swift T. Tub i, But the greatest Maim given to that general reception, which the writings of our society have formerly received..hath been a superficial vein among many readers. |
▪ II. maim, a. rare.
(meɪm)
Also 5 mayn, 7 maime.
[Related to prec.: cf. OF. mehaigne, mod.F. dial. mécaigne (Godef.).]
= maimed.
Not in any Eng. Dict.
| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 791/18 Hic mutulatus, a mayn. 1653 Holcroft Procopius Pref. A 3, It hath since been the fate of this..to be exposed maime, and mangled to the world. 1687 Miége Eng.-Fr. Dict., Maim, curtailed of any member, manchot, estropié. 1760 Baretti Eng.-Ital. Dict. 1865 tr. Strauss's New Life Jesus I. i. 352 Such a thing could not properly be expected of the poor and the maim. 1880 World 19 May 6 Refuges for the halt, the maim, the sick, and the blind. 1881 Stevenson Moral. Profess. Lett. in Fortn. Rev. Apr., His own life being maim, some of them are not admitted in his theory. |
▪ III. maim, v.
(meɪm)
Forms: α. 3–7 mayme, 4 mahayme, 5 mayheime, 5–6 maym, meyme, 6 meyheme, mayhime, mayhme, 6–7 maihme, 5– maim. β. 4 maynhe, 5 meygne, 5–7 mayn(e, 6–7 main(e; see also Sc. manyie v.
[ME. maynhe, mayn, etc. (and, with assimilation to maim n., mahayme, mayme, etc.), a. OF. mahaignier, mayner, etc. (see Godef. for forms) = Pr. maganhar, It. magagnare, med.L. mahemiare. The ulterior origin is uncertain: the conjectures of Diez and others have little probability.]
trans. To deprive of the use of some member; to mutilate, cripple. † In early use more widely, to disable, wound, cause bodily hurt or disfigurement to.
| 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 5833 Hii velle & to brusede some anon to deþe & some ymaymed [v.r. maymed] & some yhurt. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. (1810) 305 Was no man Inglis maynhed no dede þat day. a 1350 St. Andrew 38 in Horstm. Altengl. Leg. (1881) 132 And eghen sight þai toke fro sum, And sum croked, þat þai might noght ga: And all þat thai mahaymid swa [etc.]. 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xxi. 387 Ho so hitteth out a mannes eye..Othere eny manere membre maymeth other hurteth. c 1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 313 A mannes nose is sumtyme to-broken,..& if it be longe or he haue ony help, þanne he schal be maymed for euermore. c 1400 Destr. Troy xxv. 10012 Mony of þo Mirmydons maynet for euer. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7843 Some þai hedid, some þai mayne. 1470–85 Malory Arthur ii. x, Kynge Arthur slewe that daye xx knyghtes & maymed xl. 1528 More Dial. Heresyes iv. xiv. Wks. 277/2 And destroy as that sect hath done many a good religious house, spoyled, meyhemed, & slaine many a good vertuous man [etc.]. 1530 Palsgr. 617/1, I mayne, or I mayne one, I take the use of one of his lymmes from hym. 1574 tr. Littleton's Tenures 40 b, The Lorde maye not mayme hys villayne. 1604 Shakes. Oth. v. i. 27, I am maym'd for euer: Helpe hoa: Murther, murther. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea lix. 137 Sometimes the winde of the shott ouerthroweth one, and the splinters..mayne and hurt others. 1635 R. N. Camden's Hist. Eliz. Introd., Better it is that a member be joyned to the head, though it be maymed, then quite cut off. a 1674 Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. §140 Who had lost his father and had been himself maimed in the King's service. 1769 Blackstone Comm. iv. xv. 206 By the antient law of England he that maimed any man, whereby he lost any part of his body, was sentenced to lose the like part. 1792 Burke Let. Sir H. Langrishe Wks. 1842 I. 546 Nocturnal assemblies for the purpose of pulling down hedges,..firing barns, maiming cattle. 1867 M. E. Herbert Cradle L. i. 26 They maim themselves in every way to escape it [conscription]. 1868 Rep. to Govt. U.S. Munitions War 182 Thousands who have lost limbs altogether,..have done the State..good service after they were maimed. |
b. fig. To mutilate, cripple, render powerless or essentially incomplete; † to deprive of.
| c 1386 Chaucer Wife's T. 276 For of oure eldres may we no thyng clayme, But temporel thyng, þat man may hurte and mayme. c 1400 Rom. Rose 5317 For it maymeth, in many wyse, Syke hertis with coveityse. 1562 Cooper Answ. Def. Truth iii. 21 b, Hee that altereth or taketh away any doth alter and maime christes institution. 1563 B. Googe Eglogs, etc. (Arb.) 102 A Creature maymde of Reasons parte. 1593 Shakes. 2 Hen. VI, iv. ii. 172 Thereby is England main'd And faine to go with a staffe. 1613 ― Hen. VIII, iii. ii. 312 You wrought to be a Legate, by which power You maim'd the Jurisdiction of all Bishops. 1682 Dryden Religio Laici 279 For since the original Scripture has been lost, All copies disagreeing, maimed the most. 1759 Franklin Ess. Wks. 1840 III. 399 To abridge would be to maim one of the most lively pieces that liberty ever inspired. 1767 Harte Medit. T. à Kempis 117 But ah! their neighbour's pittance maims their field. 1823 Scott Peveril xv, That..act of royalty and supreme jurisdiction, the consequences of which maimed my estate so cruelly. 1868 M. Pattison Academ. Org. 6 The House passed the Government Bill, maiming it in vital points in its passage through Committee. |