mule

¹

[ myool ]

noun

1. the sterile offspring of a female horse and a male donkey, valued as a work animal, having strong muscles, a body shaped like a horse, and donkeylike long ears, small feet, and sure-footedness. Compare hinny ( def ).
2. any hybrid between the donkey and the horse.
3. Informal. a very stubborn person.
4. Botany. any sterile hybrid.
5. Biology. a hybrid, especially one between the canary and some other finch.
6. Slang. a person paid to carry or transport contraband, especially drugs, for a smuggler.
7. a small locomotive used for pulling rail cars, as in a coal yard or on an industrial site, or for towing, as of ships through canal locks.
8. Also called spinning mule. a machine for spinning cotton or other fibers into yarn and winding the yarn on spindles.
9. Nautical. a large triangular staysail set between two masts and having its clew set well aft.
10. Numismatics. a hybrid coin having the obverse of one issue and the reverse of the succeeding issue, or vice versa.

mule

²

[ myool ]

noun

1. a lounging slipper that covers the toes and instep or only the instep.
2. a woman's shoe resembling this.

mule

¹

/ mjuːl /

noun

1. a backless shoe or slipper

mule

²

/ mjuːl /

noun

1. the sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, used as a beast of burden Compare hinny 1
2. any hybrid animal

   a mule canary

3. Also calledspinning mule a machine invented by Samuel Crompton that spins cotton into yarn and winds the yarn on spindles
4. informal.
   an obstinate or stubborn person
5. slang.
   a person who is paid to transport illegal drugs for a dealer

Word History and Origins

Origin of mule¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mūla “mule” (feminine); replacing Old English mūl, from Latin mūlus (masculine)

Origin of mule²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English mule, moule “sore spot on the heel, chilblain,” perhaps from Middle Dutch mūle

Word History and Origins

Origin of mule¹

C16: from Old French from Latin mulleus a magistrate's shoe

Origin of mule²

C13: from Old French mul, from Latin mūlus ass, mule

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. forty acres and a mule, a broken or unfulfilled promise, especially one with unjust, long-term consequences: an allusion to the parcels of farmland that formerly enslaved African Americans were promised and given after the Civil War and then had taken away from them:

   The protesters chanted their demand, “Real action, real justice, no forty acres and a mule.”

More idioms and phrases containing mule

see stubborn as a mule .

Example Sentences

The authorities believe the cash mules were part of a major and ongoing operation to buy political influence run by a fugitive Moldovan oligarch named Ilan Shor.

From BBC

Square toes continue to reign heading into fall, and these mules are just the right amount of tough.

From Los Angeles Times

Now mules and planes are transporting supplies to the pummeled city, where residents describe a community covered in debris and without running water.

From Salon

Search-and-rescue efforts continue, and aid deliveries have been made by airdrops and mules.

From BBC

Down the street, a mule lay panting on its side, its skin lacerated from shrapnel.

From Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• amalgam
• combination