MULE • DICTIONARY ONE.COM • Definition of Mule

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/mjul/ Listen

noun

Mule n.

1.

(Zool.) A hybrid animal; specifically, one generated between an ass and a mare. Sometimes the term is applied to the offspring of a horse and a she-ass, but that hybrid is more properly termed a hinny. See Hinny. Note: Mules are much used as draught animals. They are hardy, and proverbial for stubbornness.

2.

(Bot.) A plant or vegetable produced by impregnating the pistil of one species with the pollen or fecundating dust of another; called also hybrid.

3.

A very stubborn person.

4.

A machine, used in factories, for spinning cotton, wool, etc., into yarn or thread and winding it into cops; called also jenny and mule-jenny.

5.

A slipper that has no fitting around the heel.

Synonyms: mules, scuff, scuffs.

Mule armadillo (Zool.), a long-eared armadillo (Tatusia hybrida), native of Buenos Ayres; called also mulita.

Mule deer (Zool.), a large deer (Cervus macrotis syn. Cariacus macrotis) of the Western United States. The name refers to its long ears.

Mule pulley (Mach.), an idle pulley for guiding a belt which transmits motion between shafts that are not parallel.

Mule twist, cotton yarn in cops, as spun on a mule; in distinction from yarn spun on a throstle frame.

See images of 'Mule'

Etymology of 'Mule'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mule" Quotes from Famous Books

... "Where are the prisoners? Why have you not brought them to me? You had no right to send them without my permission. I wished you to reconcile me with them. I intended also to give to those who had no mule a mule, and to those who had no money some money for the road. Why have you given them fire-arms? Did you not come with a friendly letter from the Queen of England? Why have you sent letters to the coast?" and ...

— A Narrative of Captivity in Abyssinia - With Some Account of the Late Emperor Theodore, - His Country and People • Henry Blanc

... comende. With that Constance anon preiende 1500 Spak to hir lord that he abyde, So that sche mai tofore ryde, To ben upon his bienvenue The ferste which schal him salue; And thus after hire lordes graunt Upon a Mule whyt amblaunt Forth with a fewe rod this qweene. Thei wondren what sche wolde mene, And riden after softe pas; Bot whan this ladi come was 1510 To themperour, in his presence Sche seide alowd in audience, "Mi lord, mi fader, wel you be! And of this time that I se ...

— Confessio Amantis - Tales of the Seven Deadly Sins, 1330-1408 A.D. • John Gower

... a week, eh? And they do say he works his help like a mule driver. If that man doesn't get to be a millionaire it will be because he is so small he makes mistakes that a larger grained man never would. That is the law of compensation, my boy. And I hate to ...

— Dick the Bank Boy - Or, A Missing Fortune • Frank V. Webster

... which we recognize in the North American deer are too well known to require description. That characterizing the mule deer (Mazama hemionus) and the Columbia black-tailed deer (M. columbiana), seems never to have occurred in the east, nor south much beyond the Mexican border, and these deer have varied little except in size, although three subspecies have lately been set off from the mule ...

— American Big Game in Its Haunts • Various

... this, the camp broke and we were on the march. I fell back with the officers of the rear guard, and the excitement of the morning was soon forgotten. About 10 o'clock, a courier came back in haste, for me to see a man who had been thrown from his mule and crushed under the wheels of his wagon. He did not know who the man was—he was about half or three-quarters of a mile ahead. The thought then occurred to me, I shall probably have to pass Mc's ...

— The Wonders of Prayer - A Record of Well Authenticated and Wonderful Answers to Prayer • Various

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