from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- transitive v. To treat in a rough or cruel way; abuse. See Synonyms at abuse.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- v. To treat badly.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- transitive v. To treat ill; to abuse; to treat roughly.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To treat ill; abuse; treat roughly, rudely, or with unkindness.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- v. treat badly
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Henry David Thoreau agonized over pummeling a chestnut with a stone to bring down its nuts: "It is not innocent, it is not just, so to maltreat the tree that feeds us," he wrote in his journal on Oct. 23, 1855.
I believe in the right of self-defence of the weak against the strong, and I do not propose to allow any man to maltreat me at his pleasure, as long as there are any weapons of defence to be had by which I can equalize any strength withhis ....
I have called him an atavism, but in this he was worse than an atavism, for the males of the lower animals do not maltreat and murder their mates.
So Collie took advantage of her sex to pick upon White Fang and maltreat him.
Better than paying Halliburton to maltreat our soldiers.
People who maltreat children are not necessarily uneducated, ignorant, and poor.
When telling a story of a poor orphaned boy who lives with his aunt and uncle and cousin, who maltreat him -- does he have to be an orphan?
CRARN had over the years taken parents who set their children on fire, machete or maltreat them to court, if only to serve as deterrent to others.
They were also forced to maltreat themselves as well as each other.
I believe in the right of self-defence of the weak against the strong, and I do not propose to allow any man to maltreat me at his pleasure, as long as there are any weapons of defence to be had by which I can equalize any strength withhis....