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mule
1[myool]
noun
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.
any hybrid between the donkey and the horse.
Informal.a very stubborn person.
Botany.any sterile hybrid.
Biology.a hybrid, especially one between the canary and some other finch.
Slang.a person paid to carry or transport contraband, especially drugs, for a smuggler.
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.
Also called spinning mule.a machine for spinning cotton or other fibers into yarn and winding the yarn on spindles.
Nautical.a large triangular staysail set between two masts and having its clew set well aft.
Numismatics.a hybrid coin having the obverse of one issue and the reverse of the succeeding issue, or vice versa.
mule
2[myool]
noun
a lounging slipper that covers the toes and instep or only the instep.
a woman's shoe resembling this.
mule
1/ ː /
noun
the sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, used as a beast of burden Compare hinny 1
any hybrid animal
a mule canary
Also called: spinning mule.a machine invented by Samuel Crompton that spins cotton into yarn and winds the yarn on spindles
informalan obstinate or stubborn person
slanga person who is paid to transport illegal drugs for a dealer
mule
2/ ː /
noun
a backless shoe or slipper
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of mule1
Origin of mule2
51Թ History and Origins
Origin of mule1
Origin of mule2
Idioms and Phrases
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.”
Example Sentences
It’s easy to see the youth as signifying the artist, and the replacement for an art-historical horse likewise standing in for a mule.
You’ll start at the Swift Creek Trailhead, taking good care not to park in “stock parking” areas, where mule packers and horse riders store their trailers during their treks.
The proposed new facility in French Guiana is to be built at a "strategic crossroads" for drugs mules, particularly from Brazil and Suriname, according to AFP news agency.
Most of them had been convicted for acting as drug mules.
That said, these two sites are a true escape, and you’ll likely see wildlife like mule deer and hear the howls of coyotes.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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