From WordNet (r) 2.0 (August 2003) [wn]:
vandal
n 1: someone who willfully destroys or defaces property
2: a member of the Germanic people who overran Gaul and Spain
and North Africa and sacked Rome in 455 [syn: Vandal]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Vandal \Van"dal\, n. [L. Vandalus, Vandalius; of Teutonic
origin, and probably originally signifying, a wanderer. Cf.
Wander.]
[1913 Webster]
1. (Anc. Hist.) One of a Teutonic race, formerly dwelling on
the south shore of the Baltic, the most barbarous and
fierce of the northern nations that plundered Rome in the
5th century, notorious for destroying the monuments of art
and literature.
[1913 Webster]
2. Hence, one who willfully destroys or defaces any work of
art or literature, or anything valluable.
[1913 Webster]
The Vandals of our isle,
Sworn foes to sense and law. --Cowper.
[1913 Webster] Vandal
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Vandal \Van"dal\, Vandalic \Van*dal"ic\, a.
Of or pertaining to the Vandals; resembling the Vandals in
barbarism and destructiveness.
[1913 Webster]