Maim

This is a technical word necessary to be introduced into all indictments for mayhem; the words "feloniously did maim," must of necessity be inserted, because no other word, or any circumlocution, will answer the same purpose.

Crim. law. To deprive a person of such part of his body as to render him less able in fighting or defending himself than he would have otherwise been.
   

This entry contains material from Bouvier's Legal Dictionary, a work published in the 1850's.