| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
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| mayhem |
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| SYLLABICATION: | may·hem |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  m  h m , m m |
| 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. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English maim, mayhem, from Anglo-Norman maihem, from Old French mahaigne, injury, from mahaignier, to maim, from Vulgar Latin *mahanre, probably of Germanic origin.
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| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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