Mangle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈmæŋ.É¡É™l/
• (also) US IPA: /ˈmeɪŋ.É¡É™l/
• Rhymes: -æŋɡəl

Origin

From Middle English mangelen, from Anglo-Norman mangler, mahangler, frequentative of either Old French mangonner ("to cut to pieces") or mahaigner ("to mutilate"), of origin, for which see mayhem. Compare also Old High German mangolōn ("to suffer loss, be deprived") (>

German mangeln ("to lack, mangle")).

Alternate etymology derives mangle from Middle English *mankelen, a frequentative form of manken ("to mutilate"), from Old English mancian, bemancian ("to maim"). More at mank.

Full definition of mangle

Verb

1. (transitive) To change, mutilate or disfigure by cutting, tearing, rearranging etc.
• Miltonmangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail
• Jonathan Swiftwhen they are disposed to mangle a play or novel
2. (transitive, archaic) To wring laundry.
3. (transitive, computing) To modify (an identifier from source code) so as to produce a unique identifier for internal use by the compiler, etc.

Noun

1. A hand-operated device with rollers, for wringing laundry.
2. The mangle attached to wringer washing machines, often called the wringer.

Derived terms

• put through the mangle

Anagrams

• leg man, legman, mangel