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mule
- 12 dictionary resultsmule
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 1 . |
| 2. | any hybrid between the donkey and the horse. |
| 3. | Informal. a very stubborn person. |
| 4. | Botany. any sterile hybrid. |
| 5. | Slang. a person paid to carry or transport contraband, esp. drugs, for a smuggler. |
| 6. | 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. |
| 7. | Also called spinning mule. a machine for spinning cotton or other fibers into yarn and winding the yarn on spindles. |
| 8. | Nautical. a large triangular staysail set between two masts and having its clew set well aft. |
| 9. | Numismatics. a hybrid coin having the obverse of one issue and the reverse of the succeeding issue, or vice versa. |
| 10. | Biology. a hybrid, esp. one between the canary and some other finch. |
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME < OF < L mūla mule (fem.); r. OE mūl < L mūlus (masc.)
bef. 1000; ME < OF < L mūla mule (fem.); r. OE mūl < L mūlus (masc.)
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. |
Origin:
1350–1400; ME: sore spot on the heel, chilblain, perh. < MD mūle
1350–1400; ME: sore spot on the heel, chilblain, perh. < MD mūle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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|
Link To mule
| mule 1 (myōōl) n.
[Middle English, from Old French mul and from Old English mūl, both from Latin mūlus.] |
| mule 2 (myōōl) n. A slipper or shoe that has no counter or strap to fit around the heel. [Probably French, slipper, possibly from Middle Dutch muil, ultimately from Latin mulleus (calceus), reddish-purple (ceremonial shoe).] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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| Main Entry: | mule |
| Part of Speech: | n |
| Definition: | See drug mule |
Language Translation for : mule
Spanish:
mula,
German:
das Maultier, der Maulesel,
Japanese:
らば
Mule
Mule\ (m[=u]l), n. [F., a she-mule, L. mula, fem. of mulus; cf. Gr. my`klos, mychlo`s. Cf. AS. m[=u]l, fr. L. mulus. Cf. Mulatto.]1. (Zo["o]l.) A hybrid animal; specifically, one generated between an ass and a mare, sometimes a horse and a she-ass. 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. Mule armadillo (Zo["o]l.), a long-eared armadillo (Tatusia hybrida), native of Buenos Aires; -- called also mulita. See Illust. under Armadillo. Mule deer (Zo["o]l.), a large deer (Cervus, or 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.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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mule (1)
"offspring of donkey and horse," O.E. mul, O.Fr. mul (fem. mule), both from L. mulus (fem. mula) "a mule," probably from a pre-Latin Mediterranean language.
"The mule combines the strength of the horse with the endurance and surefootedness of the ass, and is extensively bred for certain employments for which it is more suited than either; it is ordinarily incapable of procreation. With no good grounds, the mule is a proverbial type of obstinacy." [OED]Properly, the offspring of a he-ass and a mare; that of a she-ass and a stallion is technically a hinny. Used allusively of hybrids and things of mixed nature. As a type of spinning machine, attested from 1797. Meaning "stubborn person" is from 1848; that of "narcotics smuggler or courier" first attested 1935. O.Fr. mul was replaced in Fr. by dim. form mulet, hence muleteer "mule driver" (1538), from Fr. muletier.
mule (2)
"loose slipper," 1562, from M.Fr., from L. mulleus calceus "red high-soled shoe," worn by Roman patricians, from mullus "red" (see mullet).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Main Entry: mule
Pronunciation: 'myü(&)l
Function: noun
: a hybrid between a horse and a donkey; especially : the offspring of amale donkey and a mare
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Mule text, tool
A multi-lingual enhancement of GNU Emacs. Mule can handle not only ASCII characters (7 bit) and ISO Latin 1 characters (8 bit), but also 16-bit characters like Japanese, Chinese, and Korean. Mule can have a mixture of languages in a single buffer.
Mule runs under the X window system, or on a Hangul terminal, mterm or exterm.
Latest version: 2.3.
(ftp://etlport.etl.go.jp/pub/mule).
(1996-01-28)
The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing, © 1993-2007 Denis Howe
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Mule
(Heb. pered), so called from the quick step of the animal or its power of carrying loads. It is not probable that the Hebrews bred mules, as this was strictly forbidden in the law (Lev. 19:19), although their use was not forbidden. We find them in common use even by kings and nobles (2 Sam. 18:9; 1 Kings 1:33; 2 Kings 5:17; Ps. 32:9). They are not mentioned, however, till the time of David, for the word rendered "mules" (R.V. correctly, "hot springs") in Gen. 36:24 (yemim) properly denotes the warm springs of Callirhoe, on the eastern shore of the Dead Sea. In David's reign they became very common (2 Sam. 13:29; 1 Kings 10:25). Mules are not mentioned in the New Testament. Perhaps they had by that time ceased to be used in Palestine.
Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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mule
see stubborn as a mule.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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