mayhem

noun

1. (uncountable, usually)A state or situation of great confusion, disorder, trouble or destruction; chaos.

   “to cause mayhem”

   “What if the legendary hero Robin Hood had been born into the mayhem of the 20th century?”

   “In all the mayhem, some children were separated from their parents.”

   “In the 1870's, a young newspaper editor named Henry George walked the streets of San Francisco lamenting the paradoxical economic mayhem that lay all around him.”

   “We terrified the mare and foal. The fox stood still and far too bold. So we strung him up, brush neatly folded - Mayhem, maybe.”

2. (uncountable, usually)Infliction of violent injury on a person or thing.

   “The fighting dogs created mayhem in the flower beds.”

   “This same man,[…], beat himself weary upon me with a raw hide, I not resisting, and then pantingly threatened me with permanent disfiguring mayhem, if ever again I should introduce his name into print, […]”

   ““Tell me,” I said, “when one surrenders his personal feelings to his professional feelings, may not the action be defined as a sort of spiritual mayhem?””

3. (uncountable, usually)The maiming of a person by depriving them of the use of any of their limbs which are necessary for defense or protection.

   “to commit mayhem”

   “There is a story told of a case where a notorious character was charged with the unusual crime of “mayhem”—biting off another man's finger. The defendant's counsel secured adjournment after adjournment—no one knew why.”

   “"Well, it's a funny thing, but I can't get rid of the impression that at some point in my researches into the night life of London yestreen I fell upon some person to whom I had never been introduced and committed mayhem upon his person."”

4. (uncountable, usually)The crime of damaging things or harming people on purpose.

verb

1. (archaic)To commit mayhem.

   “the king shal punish him for mayheming of his subject”