mangle
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmæŋ.ɡəl/
Audio (US) (file) - Rhymes: -æŋɡəl
Etymology 1
From Middle English mangelen, from Anglo-Norman mangler, mahangler, frequentative of either Old French mangonner (“to cut to pieces”) or mahaigner (“to mutilate”), of Germanic origin, for which see mayhem.
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.
Verb
mangle (third-person singular simple present mangles, present participle mangling, simple past and past participle mangled)
- (transitive) To change, mutilate, or disfigure by cutting, tearing, rearranging, etc.
- 1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- mangled with ghastly wounds through plate and mail
- c. 1703-20, Jonathan Swift, A Letter to a Very Young Lady on Her Marriage
- when they are disposed to mangle a play or a novel
- (transitive, computing) To modify (an identifier from source code) so as to produce a unique identifier for internal use by the compiler, etc.
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 2
Ca. 1700, from Dutch mangel, from Early Modern German Mangel (15th c.), enhanced form (by analogy with other tool names in -el) of Middle High German mange, from Medieval Latin manga, manganum, from Ancient Greek μάγγανον (mánganon). Doublet of mangonel.
Noun
mangle (plural mangles)

- A hand-operated device with rollers, for wringing laundry.
- The mangle attached to wringer washing machines, often called the wringer.
- 1993, John Banville, Ghosts:
- There was a bright-red plastic baby-bath, a car tyre, a rusty mangle, and something that looked like a primitive version of a washing machine.
Derived terms
Translations
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Verb
mangle (third-person singular simple present mangles, present participle mangling, simple past and past participle mangled)
Translations
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Etymology 3
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Catalan
Derived terms
Danish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /manɡlə/, [ˈmɑŋlə]
French
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Further reading
- “mangle”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
German
Pronunciation
Audio (file)
Verb
mangle
- inflection of mangeln:
- first-person singular present
- singular imperative
- first/third-person singular subjunctive I
Norwegian Bokmål
Verb
mangle (imperative mangl or mangle, present tense mangler, simple past and past participle mangla or manglet, present participle manglende)
- to lack (something)
Related terms
References
- “mangle” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
Spanish
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ˈmanɡle/ [ˈmãŋ.ɡle]
- Rhymes: -anɡle
- Syllabification: man‧gle
Derived terms
Further reading
- “mangle”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014