mallet
/ˈmælɪt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.00 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A type of hammer with a larger-than-usual head made of wood, rubber or similar non-iron material, used by woodworkers for driving a tool, such as a chisel. A kind of maul.
noun
A weapon resembling the tool, but typically much larger.
noun
A type of articulated locomotive having two powered trucks, with the rear truck being rigidly attached to the main body and boiler of the locomotive, while the front powered truck is attached to the rear by a hinge, so that it may swing from side to side, and with the front end of the boiler resting upon a sliding bearing on the swinging front truck.
Example Sentences
- "Carpenters use mallets for assembling."
- "We used a mallet to drive the tent pegs into the ground."
- "The Mallet of arms, according to the representation of it given by Father Daniel, exactly resembles the wooden instrument of that name, now in use, except in the length of the handle, it was like the hammer of arms, to be used with both hands, indeed it differed very little from that weapon in its form."
- "I had had no opportunity as yet of passing on Poirot’s message to Lawrence. But now, as I strolled out on the lawn, still nursing a grudge against my friend’s high-handedness, I saw Lawrence on the croquet lawn, aimlessly knocking a couple of very ancient balls about, with a still more ancient mallet."
- "I regularly have cause to recall a scene from a novel called Madder Music, by Peter de Vries, in which the main character, a writer who specialises in polo, hears a match announcer telling newcomers to the ground that, contrary to popular belief, the ball is struck with the side of the mallet, rather than the end."
- "[…] and when a couple of insurgents ran in to make the capture she malleted them with her rifle."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-? Proto-Indo-European *mer-? Proto-Indo-European *merh₂-? Latin malleum Old French mail Proto-Indo-European *-tós Proto-Italic *-tosder.? Late Latin -ittus Old French -et Old French mailletbor. Middle English maylet English mallet Inherited from Middle English maylet, borrowed from Old French maillet, from mail + -et.