mangle Meaning, Definition & Usage

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

WordNet

Man"gle transitive verb
Etymology
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.
Wordforms
imperfect & past participle Mangled ; present participle & verbal noun Mangling
Definitions
  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.
Man"gle noun
Etymology
D. mangel, fr. OE. mangonel a machine for throwing stones, LL. manganum, Gr. a machine for defending fortifications, axis of a pulley. Cf. Mangonel.
Definitions
  1. A machine for smoothing linen or cotton cloth, as sheets, tablecloths, napkins, and clothing, by roller pressure.
Man"gle transitive verb
Etymology
Cf. D. mangelen. See Mangle, n.
Definitions
  1. To smooth with a mangle, as damp linen or cloth.

Webster 1913