Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. the hand, the fist.

1816		W.T. Moncrieff All at Coventry II ii: Duelling’s not the go now, pops have given place to maulers.
1842		Flash (N.Y.) 10 July 2/3: In the twenty-eighth Bob had utterly lost the use of his right mawler, and went to grass.
1873		W.H. Thomes Bushrangers 101: ‘You can use yer mawlers, can yer, little bantam? Well, so can I [...]’ He drew back his huge fist [...] and aimed a blow at my face.
1888		Wanganui Herald 18 Feb. 2/9: His unfortunate ‘lug’ was visited so frequently by the English lad’s mauler tht his ‘listner’ [sic] swelled.
1894		Truth (Sydney) 14 Jan. 6/7: When the chump puts out his mauler I gives him nine peg (i.e. shillings).
1896		G.F. Northall Warwickshire Word-Book 142: Maulers. The hands.
1901		J. Caminada Twenty-Five Years of Detective Life II 319: He would have [...] become enthusiastic over the sledgehammer blows of the left ‘mauler’.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 13 Jan. 4/8: If ever I get me maulers on ye [...] ye can consider yourself kicked.
1908		Truth (Wellington) 11 Jan. 5/8: This meddler will get a severe rap over his big maulers.
1912		T.A. Dorgan Daffydills 3 Jan. [synd. cartoon strip] After coughing gently behind his right mauler [he] said [etc].
1914		Sport (Adelaide) 26 June 4/6: Claude D. has had his mawler tied up since Lil H. sat on it .
1918		N.Z. Truth6 Apr. 8/3: His right mauler was on the guard for any foul blows.
1926		N. Fleischer in Ring Nov. 10: mauler -- A hand.
1931		R.E. Howard ‘Texas Fists’ Fight Stories May 🌐 I sunk my left mauler to the wrist in his midriff.
1959		A. Sillitoe ‘Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner’ Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner (1960) 23: There he stood, the palms of his upshot maulers flat and turned out so’s I could step on ’em.
1961		T. Taylor Baron’s Court All Change (2011) 51: ‘You are [...] not getting your dirty maulers anywhere near my hard-earned loot!’.
1976		(ref. to 1930s) R. Barnes Coronation Cups and Jam Jars 109: He caught one right under the Vera Lyn from George’s great mauler.
1985		S. Berkoff West in Decadence and Other Plays (1985) 111: Us chinas to be there in case the others thrust their grubby maulers in.
2003		Brummagem Dict. 🌐 mawlers npl. hands.

2. (US) a boxer, esp. one who relies on violence rather than skill.

1908		Sporting Times 11 July 1/4: ‘Is it X——?’ asked the sacrifice. ‘It is,’ said the mauler.
1918		N.Z. Truth6 Apr. 8/3: Only the sullen courage and votality o Dillon saved him from being put to sleep [...] under the bombardment of the Minnesota Mauler.
1929		N.Z. Truth 31 Jan. 8/3: Willard was cock on the walk for a time [...] but lack of caution [...] left him soft and easy for a slugging mauler.
1932		Western Mail (Perth) 1 Sept. 19/5: [headline] A Boxer Beats a Mauler.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1953		Sydney Morn. Herald 13 Dec. 64/3 : [Jack Dempsy] a former Coloradio mule driver turned prizefighter — the Manassa Mauler.
1962		H.S. Thompson letter 16 Feb. in Proud Highway (1997) 320: I dig a smooth mauler.
1999		N.Y. Times Books 🌐 Especially in contrast to the ‘machinelike,’ ‘scientific’ Tunney, reporters painted Dempsey as a ‘mauler,’ a ‘vicious beast,’ a dark (he usually wore a several-day-old beard) ‘savage’ in the ring.

3. a punch.

1929

E. Dahlberg Bottom Dogs 271: ‘Alrite,’ said Max, just getting a smack in the eye with a chunk of soap, ‘for every one I get, you’ll get ten maulers in the ribs.’.

4. brass knuckles.

1953

R. Chandler Long Good-Bye 123: He looked surprisedly down at his hand. He slipped the mauler off and threw it casually in the corner.