maul

1. To make out with someone 2. A long hammer used to drive wedges and steaks. 3. The German word for mouth. 4. In Rugby, A maul is formed if the ball carrier is held up and one player from each side binds onto him and tries either to rip the ball away or push him forwards. Once a maul has formed other players may join in but, as in a ruck, they must do so from their own side. If the maul stops moving forward, and the ball is not available to be played, then the referee awards a scrum to the side not in possession when the maul began. The tactic of the rolling maul occurs when mauls are set up, and the ball is passed backwards through the players hands to one at the rear, who rolls off the side to create a new maul. This tactic can be extremely effective in gaining ground and takes great skill and technique to both do properly and to try to prevent. It's a tactic most commonly used when the attacking side is inside their opponents' 22. It is illegal, on safety grounds, to pull down a maul, so that players fall to the ground. Referees are aware that many sides will try to stop a maul by deliberately collapsing it and will watch carefully for this illegal tactic. On the other hand, a maul is not properly formed if the ball carrier binds on to a team-mate from the rear, and both of them then drive into one or more opponents. The player in front is either accidentally or deliberately offside and the referee would award either a scrum or a penalty to the opposing side, depending on whether the infringement was viewed as accidental or deliberate. The tactic is sometimes referred to by players, commentators and referees by the colloquial term "truck and trailer" 5. In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace: Born 54 BBY, Darth Maul was the first known apprentice of Darth Sidious. A Zabrak originally from Iridonia, Maul had no memories of his homeworld or family, having been kidnapped as an infant by Sidious. Indoctrinated in the ways of the dark side from youth, Maul had no emotion aside from bloodlust and rage. During his training, any show of fear was severely punished by Sidious and any hint of mercy rewarded with cruelty. By the time Maul was an adolescent, his master had already forged him into a weapon of pure hatred. Marked by Sith tattoos that covered his entire muscular body, the young Zabrak was now the ultimate tool of the dark side. Despite this rather traumatic childhood (if it could be called that), Maul adored his Master, and never once contemplated killing him — until his final test. Sidious abandoned Maul on an isolated Outer Rim world, forcing him to survive alone while being hunted by hordes of assassin droids. After a month's time, his master returned and challenged his apprentice to a duel, one which Maul quickly lost. Sidious then told Maul that he had failed and he had been secretly training a replacement for him. Rage and hatred overwhelmed Maul and in one final act of defiance, he nearly defeated his master. When Maul's emotions were finally spent, he prepared himself for death, yet his master laughed instead. By wanting to kill his own master, Maul had in fact passed the final test. His master proclaimed him Darth Maul, Dark Lord of the Sith and took him to a new home on Coruscant. Unlike Sidious' later apprentices, Tyranus and Vader, Maul had no ambition to strike down his master. Also, unlike Tyranus and Vader, Sidious used him more as a tool than as an apprentice; he had no cunning, merely an unfailing devotion to his master. However, he did realize that Sith tradition required the death of his master before he could acquire an apprentice of his own. Maul was skilled with the lightsaber. According to Star Wars Insider #62, Darth Maul was trained by Darth Sidious to be a master of Form VII, which draws on emotions and the dark side. Unlike the traditional dueling techniques of most Jedi, Maul combined his swordsmanship with incredible acrobatic and martial arts and hand-to-hand combat skills, making him a nearly unstoppable dervish of destruction. Maul was a master of the fighting style teräs käsi as well as an adept in the Jar'Kai style of wielding a lightsaber in each hand. When fighting multiple opponents, Maul extended the second blade of his double-bladed lightsaber to form a saberstaff, doubling his lethality. Maul often used this to catch opponents by surprise as few were prepared for the extra blade. Maul had constructed this weapon himself, using ancient plans stored within one of the Sith Holocrons the Sith still possessed. He had based his lightsaber design upon Exar Kun's. Maul was skilled with combining Force talents with mechanics. His master gave Maul the funds and schematics he needed and provided him with a secret facility on Coruscant in which to work. There, Maul constructed his signature speeder bike Bloodfin and his Dark Eye probe droids. Maul had a powerful transport—a Sith Infiltrator called Scimitar, which hosted a cloaking shield generator. This vehicle was developed by Raith Sienar, the man whose company would later develop the TIE fighter for the Galactic Empire. Maul originally went on countless missions of terror for his master, killing politicians, crime bosses, merchants and warlords. Maul's very appearance had been carefully conceived to put fear into the heart of the Sith's enemies and unwitting allies. His victims included Neimoidian Hath Monchar, the Black Sun leader Alexi Garyn, the Nightsister Mighella and all of the Black Sun vigos and their bodyguards. Yet despite his untold successes, Maul longed for victory over the Jedi. During the events of Episode I: the Phantom Menace, Maul was sent to capture Queen Amidala and eliminate the two Jedi, Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had been dispatched by the Galactic Republic to settle the conflict and protect the queen. Maul just barely failed in this task on Tatooine and he thirsted for revenge. Fighting Tusken Raiders and Togorian pirates put a drain on him by the time he left Tatooine. Upon arriving on Naboo, the hatred-fueled Sith warrior went straight at the two Jedi, ignoring the queen and allowing her to escape. In a vicious duel during the Battle of Naboo, Maul was remarkably able to fend off both of his Jedi opponents with the help of his double-bladed lightsaber. Maul then finally succeeded in slaying Jinn. However, overconfidence, a common personality trait among the Zabrak species, led to Maul's own immediate downfall when he challenged Obi-Wan. The young Padawan, enraged at his master's death, struck out at Maul with a furious assault of lightsaber swipes but by doing this, he put himself at great risk. Maul eventually Force pushed the vengeful Obi-Wan into a pit. He taunted the Padawan, who dangled helplessly by a ledge, watching his lightsaber fall down into the abyss. But by calming his anger over Jinn's death and connecting with the Force, Kenobi was able to make a spectacular leap out of the shaft and Force-guide Jinn's lightsaber into his own hands. Wasting no time in striking as he landed from his jump, Obi-Wan quickly sliced the astounded Maul in two before he could react. Maul barely had time to grimace as his body tumbled down the shaft in two pieces. Darth Maul first appeared in The Phantom Menace, but, to the disappointment of many fans, his character was killed by the end of the film. Maul's striking visual design, in addition to his limited role, have left many fans wanting to know more about his character. According to IMDb, “...Though curious Star Wars fanatics clamored to rumors that Ray Park would return as Darth Maul in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (2002), their many speculations were shot down by George Lucas himself with the announcement that although that specific character would not return for the sequel, Park would indeed play a role in Episode II...” What this role was remains a mystery. Maul's earlier escapades are documented in the following works: * Jedi Council: Acts of War * "Darth Maul: Saboteur" * Darth Maul * Episode I Adventures: The Fury of Darth Maul * "Marked" * Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter * The Phantom Menace * Episode I Journal: Darth Maul Darth Maul is also a secret character in the video game Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3.