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.
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.
Idioms for mule
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.”
Origin of mule
1
First recorded before 1000; Middle English, from Old French, from Latin mūla “mule” (feminine); replacing Old English mūl, from Latin mūlus (masculine)
Earlier this year, she got a chance to find out when she joined a bow hunt for mule deer with two rising stars of huntstagram, the social media sphere dedicated to all things hunting.
A First-Time Hunter Gets a Lesson from #WomenWhoHunt|Outside Editors|October 7, 2020|Outside Online
While relatively small burns intended to regenerate habitat—say, 100 acres to improve mule deer range—are exempt from rigorous analysis, larger projects can take years to be approved, says Van de Water.
How we can burn our way to a better future|Ula Chrobak|October 2, 2020|Popular Science
That you don’t have to be somebody’s emotional or spiritual mule to be worthy of love.
Get Gabrielle Union’s Best Career Advice|Joshua Eferighe|September 16, 2020|Ozy
The company was working on military contracts, and BigDog was supposed to be a sort of pack mule for soldiers.
The Robot Revolution Was Televised: Our All-Time Favorite Boston Dynamics Robot Videos|Jason Dorrier|July 19, 2020|Singularity Hub
He weighed only 185 pounds, but he had killer instincts and rabbit quickness and the stamina of a mule.
Football Great Bob Suffridge Wanders Through the End Zone of Life|Paul Hemphill|September 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He took the left one and, with a pile driver of a mule kick, almost ripped it off its hinges.
The Night the SEALS Captured the Butcher of Fallujah|Patrick Robinson|November 11, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Those players called Robinson “Mule” because he worked them hard as pack animals.
Eddie Robinson, College Football’s Winningest Coach|Samuel G. Freedman|August 23, 2013|DAILY BEAST
In some places we want cows but not bison, or mule deer but not coyotes, or cars but not elk.
Why Do We Save Some Species and Let Others Get Devastated?|Melissa Holbrook Pierson|May 21, 2013|DAILY BEAST
Steadily, our gunman pushed forward, his mule high-stepping through brush.
An Obsessive’s Search for a Lost Jungle City|Christopher S. Stewart|December 30, 2012|DAILY BEAST
It would be a sad alternative—as both the mule and the dog were looked upon more in the light of companions than slaves.
The Boy Hunters|Captain Mayne Reid
I heard about the 40 acres of land and a mule the ex-slaves would get after the war, but I didn't pay any attention to it.
Slave Narratives Vol. XIV. South Carolina, Part 1|Various
A mule can beat you at that: 'Be ye not as the mule, which have no understanding.'
Expositions of Holy Scripture|Alexander Maclaren
I thought of Aristotle, who denied the existence of a mule because it was neither a horse nor an ass.
A Preface to Politics|Walter Lippmann
The gates of the palace were open, so I descended from my mule and entered, and lo!
George Cruikshank's Omnibus|George Cruikshank
British Dictionary definitions for mule (1 of 2)
mule1
/ (mjuːl) /
noun
the sterile offspring of a male donkey and a female horse, used as a beast of burdenCompare hinny 1
any hybrid animala mule canary
Also called: spinning mulea 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
Word Origin for mule
C13: from Old French mul, from Latin mūlus ass, mule
British Dictionary definitions for mule (2 of 2)
mule2
/ (mjuːl) /
noun
a backless shoe or slipper
Word Origin for mule
C16: from Old French from Latin mulleus a magistrate's shoe