Word of the Day : December 6, 2020

mangle \MANG-gul\ verb

Definition

1 : to injure with deep disfiguring wounds by cutting, tearing, or crushing

2 : to spoil, injure, or make incoherent especially through ineptitude

Did You Know?

Besides the "mutilate" verb mangle, English has the noun mangle ("a machine for ironing laundry by passing it between heated rollers") and its related verb ("to press or smooth with a mangle"). There's no etymological relationship, however, between that pair and the mangle that means "to mutilate or bungle." The ironing-related homographs come from Dutch and ultimately from a Latin word that also gave English mangonel, the name for a military engine used to hurl missiles. The injury-related mangle comes from Anglo-French and may be a relation of the words maim and mayhem via Anglo-French mahaigner, "to maim."

Aired December 6, 2020

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