▪ I. mule1
(mjuːl)
Also 1 m{uacu}l, 4 moul, muile, 4–5 muyle, 5 meule, mewle, (pl. moyllez), 5–9 (9 arch.) moyle, 6 moole, muill, mull, 6–7 moile, 6–8 moil, moyl.
[The OE. m{uacu}l masc., ad. L. mūlus, was in early ME. superseded by the adoption of the OF. mul masc., mule fem. (mod.F. mule fem.; for the masc. the dim. mulet is used) = Sp., Pg., It. mulo masc., mula fem.:—L. mūlus masc., mūla fem.
The L. mūlus was adopted at an early period into most of the Teut. langs.: MLG., OHG. (MHG.) mûl, MDu. muul (mod.Du. muil, early mod.G. maul), ON. m{uacu}ll (Sw. mula, Da. mule). In the later stages of continental Teut. the simple word largely gave place to combs. with explanatory second element: MHG. mûltier, mod.G. maulthier, Da. muldyr (G. thier, Da. dyr, animal), G. maulesel, Du. muilezel, Da. mulæsel, Sw. mulåsna (G. esel, Du. ezel, Da. æsel, Sw. åsna ass), G. maulpferd (pferd, horse).
A 14th c. survival of the OE. m{uacu}l may perh. be found in the isolated form moul in the Göttingen MS. of the Cursor Mundi. The obsolete forms muil, moil, represent an Eng. development of OF. ü, which is found also in other words, as recoil, ois (= use).]
1. a. The offspring of a he-ass and a mare. Also popularly applied to the offspring of a she-ass and a stallion (technically called a hinny).
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.
| c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) xxxi. 10 Ne beo ᵹe na swylce hors and mulas. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 3913 Mid so gret charge þer to Of mules. 13.. K. Alis. 175 A muyle [MS. Bodl. mule], al so whit as mylk. 13.. Cursor M. 6001 Hors and ass, moul and camayle. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 48 Þanne seye we a samaritan sittende on a mule. ? a 1400 Morte Arth. 2287 Moyllez mylke whitte, and meruayllous bestez. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon viii. 189 A Knyghte mounted vpon a mewle all vnarmed. 1535 Coverdale Job xxxix. 4 Who letteth the wilde asse go fre, or who lowseth the bondes of the Moole? c 1560 A. Scott Poems (S.T.S.) xxxiv. 107 The mull frequentis þe anis, And hir awin kynd abusis. 1653 H. Cogan tr. Pinto's Trav. iii. 5 We went by Land mounted upon good Mules. 1679 Dryden Tr. & Cr. ii. ii, I have been labouring in your business like any moyle. 1749 Smollett Gil Blas v. i, A vast barn in which the moyls and the baggage were disposed. 1809–12 M. Edgeworth Absentee xiii, She was as obstinate as a mule on that point. 1822 Scott Nigel iv, Though he is not just so rich just now as some folks, yet I hope to see him ride upon his moyle. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) I. 360 You might as well affirm the existence of mules, and deny that of horses and asses. |
† b. Phrases.
one mule doth scrub another: one fool flatters another.
to shoe one's mule: to help oneself out of funds trusted to one's management.
| a 1635 Randolph Muses Looking-Gl. iii. iv, I need not flatter these, they'le doe't themselves, And crosse the Proverb that was wont to say One Mule doth scrub another. 1655 tr. Com. Hist. Francion iii. 75 He had the keeping..of the Moneyes, and yet shod not his Mule at all. |
¶ c. Used (
= Gr. ἡµίονος) for the Syrian wild ass.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 556 There is another kind of mules in Syria, diuers from those which are procreated by the copulation of a mare and an asse... These mules procreate in their owne kinde, and admit no mixture. |
2. transf. a. A person having the characteristics of a mule;
chiefly, a stupid or obstinate person.
| c 1470 Ashby Active Pol. Prince 564 Thaugh he were an asse hede or a dulle mule, He myght not lyve wildly at his pleasance. 1848 Dickens Dombey vi, ‘Now don't be a young mule’, said Good Mrs. Brown. |
† b. ? A strumpet, concubine.
Obs.| 1494 Fabyan Chron. vii. ccxxix. 259 Y⊇ Cardynall made sharpe processe agayn prestys, y{supt} noresshed Cristen-moyles, & rebuked them by open publysshement and otherwyse. 1638 Ford Fancies i. ii, Trudging between an old moil, and a young calf, my nimble intelligencer? 1746 Exmoor Courtship (E.D.S.) 502 A zower-zop'd, yerring, chockling Trash, a buzzom-chuck'd haggaging Moyle, a gurt Fustilug. |
c. One who is ‘neither one thing nor the other’.
| 1625 B. Jonson Staple of N. ii. iv, Alm. I wonder what religion hee's of! Fit. No certaine species sure, A kinde of mule! That's halfe an Ethnicke, halfe a Christian! |
d. Naut. A large triangular sail sometimes used on a ketch. So
mule-rigged adj.| 1932 Yachting Sept. 46 ‘Tidal wave’, winner of the race, at the start, with the mule pulling aloft and motor pushing below. 1954 Ibid. Apr. 61 The swell rolls the wind out of her spinnaker, but the ‘mule’ aloft between her masts is pulling like its long-eared namesake. 1954 Motor Boating Dec. 29/1 The mule-rigged yawl Flame at the start in Newport. 1964 M. Weeks Compl. Boating Encycl. 366/2 Mule, a large triangular staysail sometimes used on a ketch. It sets on the main backstay and is sheeted to the mizzenmasthead. |
e. U.S. slang. (See
quots.)
| 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 78/2 Mule, person who carries dope for a drug trafficker and passes drug to buyer after a sale has been made. 1951 Life 11 June 126/2 He becomes a ‘mule’ (delivery boy) for a peddler and earns his own heroin by introducing his friends to dope and making customers of them. 1959 ‘E. McBain’ Pusher viii. 78, I bought from him a coupla times. He was a mule, Dad. That means he pushed to other kids. |
3. A hybrid.
a. Of plants. (See also
moil n.2)
| 1727–41 Chambers Cycl., Mules, among gardeners, denote a sort of vegetable monsters produced by putting the farina fœcundans of one species of plant into the pistil, or utricle of another. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict. s.v. Caryophyllus (ad fin.), The Double Rose-colour'd Sweet-John, or Fairchild's Mule. 1857 Henfrey Elem. Bot. §948 Gærtner states that in hybrids of Digitalis the mules most resembled the female parent, while in Nicotiana the reverse appeared. |
b. Of animals; also of birds,
esp. a mule canary (see 5 c).
| 1771 Forster in Phil. Trans. LXI. 319 The mules between carp and tench, partake of the nature of both fish. 1818 Sporting Mag. II. 67 As to mules from the fox and dog, they are equally fruitful. 1868 F. Smith Canary xiii. 92 The linnet and the goldfinch..from both of which [with the canary] mules are..obtained. 1884 A. H. Bartlett in Proc. Zool. Soc. 401 The belief, so general, that all hybrids or mules are barren and useless for breeding-purposes is simply a stupid and ignorant prejudice. |
c. (See
quot.)
rare—0. [So F.
mulet.]
| 1856 Mayne Expos. Lex., Mule, applied to insects of which the organs are not properly developed and which are really of neither sex. |
4. techn. in applications of sense 3.
a. A kind of spinning machine invented by S. Crompton (
died 1827).
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) V. 488/2 It is called a mule, being a kind of mixture of machinery between the warp-machine of Mr. Arkwright and the woof-machine or hand-jenny of Mr. Hargrave. 1812 Hansard's Deb. XXI. 1173 To remedy this defect, the Petitioner [S. Crompton] in the year 1779, completed the discovery of a Machine, now called a Mule, but which, for several years, bore the name of the Hall of the Wood Wheel. 1884 W. S. B. M{supc}Laren Spinning (ed. 2) 229 Tatham's woollen mules—which are very different from cotton mules. |
b. A boat combining the characteristics of a ‘coble’ and a fishing boat.
| 1884 Whitby Gaz. 28 June 4/4 Several of the Whitby mules have landed good catches of herrings. |
c. Numism. (See
quots.)
| 1801 C. Pye Provincial Coins 3 The endless varieties (not unaptly termed mules) produced by a combination of dies not originally intended for the same coin. 1884 R. S. Poole in Encycl. Brit. XVII. 630/2 A coin which presents two obverse types, or two reverse types, or of which the types of the obverse and reverse do not correspond, is called a mule; it is the result of a mistake or caprice. 1961 G. van der Meer in R. H. M. Dolley Anglo-Saxon Coins 183 The variety is an ‘Intermediate Small Cross/Crux’ mule. Ibid. 184 The type is a mule of the ‘Arm-and-Sceptre’ type of ‘Cnut’ (= Harthacnut) and the ‘Pacx’ type of Edward the Confessor. |
d. A small tractor or locomotive, usually powered by electricity, used for towing canalboats, moving trailers, etc. (see
quots.).
| 1903 Electr. World & Engin. 14 Nov. 795 The ‘mule’ has two large hooks for the towropes. 1924 Chambers's Jrnl. Nov. 731/2 These wire ropes are stretched from the ship to motor-tractors running on rails the length of the docks. Electric ‘mules’ the tractors are called... These mules both guide and propel the ship. 1928 Amer. Speech III. 366 ‘Mules’ are the little gas and electric tractors used in the studios of Hollywood. 1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 109 Mule, a small tractor used to relocate dollies in a terminal or warehouse. |
5. attrib. and
Comb. a. Obvious comb., (sense 1) as
mule-back (also
attrib. and quasi-adv.),
mule-boy,
mule-bray,
mule-cart,
mule-driver,
mule-hoof,
mule-kick,
mule-load,
mule-man,
mule-meat,
mule-path,
mule-power,
mule-race,
mule-road,
mule-skin,
mule-steak,
mule-team,
mule-track,
mule-trail,
mule-train,
mule-trot,
mule-wagon,
mule-way; (sense 3 b) as
mule breeding; (sense 4 a) as
mule-carriage,
mule-spinner,
mule-spinning.
| 1725 De Foe Voy. round World (1840) 256 His majordomo on horseback, that is to say on *muleback. 1878 Harper's Mag. Jan. 283/2 He put it in his broken English, ‘On horse-back or mule-back, and many times on foot-back.’ 1897 R. M. Stuart In Simpkinsville 15 Many's the time..he's rode into town, mule-back, with her settin up in front of him. 1904 ‘O. Henry’ Cabbages & Kings i. 16 The mule-back system of transport that prevailed between Coralio and the capital. 1968 D. M. Smith Medieval Sicily xviii. 182 All wheat had to be carried to the ports on muleback. 1973 K. Benton Craig & Jaguar iii. 29 An estate..surrounded by high mountain ranges..and until recently only accessible by mule-back. |
| 1958 J. Carew Black Midas i. 11, I had started work as a *mule boy..trotting beside a mounted overseer. |
| 1960 S. Plath Colossus (1967) 20 *Mule-bray, pig-grunt. |
| 1885 R. L. Wallace Canary Bk. 56 Canaries for *Mule Breeding. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 301 The *mule-carriage began to recede from the fixed roller beam. |
| 1847 Knickerbocker XXX. 228 Our little *mule-cart was but ill-fitted for the passage of so swift a stream. 1929 J. Buchan Courts of Morning i. 37 Country mule-carts struggled towards the market-place. |
| 1857 P. St. G. Cooke Scenes & Adventures 90 A charge..would have proved disastrous to the *mule-drivers. 1909 ‘O. Henry’ Roads of Destiny 192 He had been mule-driver..and cattleman. |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 486 We found the masonry slightly crumbled, and marked by *mule-hoofs. |
| 1930 Blunden De Bello Germanico 5 That sudden backward *mule-kick which gives troop-trains one of their unique charms. 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 13 Jan. 24/3 A flying leap known in dancing as a reverse dolphin dive, and in wrestling jargon as a mule kick. |
| 1810 Z. M. Pike Acct. Expeditions Sources Mississippi App. iii. 4 There are taken, to be coined, 100 *mule-loads of bullion in silver and gold monthly. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 491 We had plenty of company, in the way of wagon-loads and mule-loads of tourists. |
| 1867 in E. Custer Tenting on Plains (1887) 537 Teams of luggage, dogs, horsemen, *mulemen, cross and recross at will. 1952 E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture iii. 60 Hare gave an order to the mulemen to build the fires. 1970 R. Lowell Notebk. 209 The mule-man lost his footing in the clouds. |
| 1846 R. B. Sage Scenes Rocky Mts. xxix. 251 We ended our fast..with a feast of *mule meat. 1891 Century Mag. Mar. 774 We made our Christmas and New Year's dinner on mule meat. |
| 1834 A. Pike Prose Sk. & Poems 25 They would find a *mule-path leading from the ford. |
| 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 131 Big keel-boats on their way up, using sails, *mule power, and profanity. 1914 Illustr. London News 12 Dec. 814/3 The mountain gunners can take their gun, by mule-power or man-power, where the Horse and Field cannot follow. 1937 N. N. Puckett in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 172/1 On plantations with more abundant mule-power, we find appearing..such..descriptions as Young Beck,..Leader Kit, and even such regular surnames in muledom as Jane Henkel..and Pol Jones. |
| 1883 ‘Mark Twain’ Life on Mississippi xlv. 462 The ladies of New Orleans attend so humble an orgy as a *mule-race. |
| 1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey I. xxiv. 210 The foot-road..is only one thousand three hundred paces;..the *mule-road is above four times as far. 1880 ‘Mark Twain’ Tramp Abroad 445 We followed the mule-road, a zigzag course. 1970 C. Kopas Bella Coola iii. 55 Applied for a contract to build a mule road from Bella Coola to the mouth of the Quesnel. |
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 228/2 Men's genuine unlined *Mule Skin Gloves. Not very pretty, perhaps, but full of real goodness. 1926 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 7 Jan. 11/1 Brown Muleskin Gauntlets, warmly lined, cuff has fringe and red star. |
| 1835 Ure Philos. Manuf. 423 The *mule-spinners..always prefer children who have been educated at an infant school. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 379 *Mule-spinning, which is by far the most perfect process, and by which the finest yarn is produced, shall first have our attention. |
| 1854 J. R. Bartlett Pers. Narr. Explor. Texas I. v. 113 We might reach El Paso by..taking an occasional *mule steak. |
| 1846 S. Magoffin Diary in Down Santa Fé Trail (1926) 25 His *mule team (some eighteen or twenty) were..passing the little wet creek. 1949 L. G. Green In the Land of Afternoon ix. 131 Every twelve miles along the route a fresh mule team awaited the coach. |
| 1908 A. Bennett Old Wives' Tale i. i. 2 The ineffaceable *mule-tracks that had served centuries before..Watling Street. 1975 P. Somerville-Large Coach of Earth x. 181 A traditional mule track that crossed the new road. |
| 1859 Brit. Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 29 Jan. 1/4 A good wagon road to Fort Yale, and a *mule trail thence equal to the best in California. 1932 World Today Feb. 217/2 Twenty miles of muletrail were built. |
| 1849 H. Page Let. 8 May in E. Page Wagons West (1930) 116 The Indians..will not trouble us, so much as they will the *mule trains. 1952 E. F. Davies Illyrian Venture vii. 129 Chesshire and Kadri went back to find Hare and the mule train at dawn. |
| 1871 Kingsley At Last x, A truck, with chairs on it, as usual here, carried us off at a good *mule-trot. |
| 1846 P. St. G. Cooke Jrnl. 19 Oct. in P. St. G. Cooke et al. Exploring Southwestern Trails (1938) 69 There are three *mule wagons to each company. 1863 Harper's Mag. June 9/2 With utmost speed, in mule-wagons, they started for the Lower Agency. |
| 1850 J. L. Tyson Diary of Physician in Calif. 24 [Down] the only pass..was a narrow *mule-way. 1930 T. S. Eliot tr. St.-J. Perse's Anabasis 65 The parties for upkeep of muleways. |
b. attrib. passing into adj. in sense ‘hybrid’.
| 1755 Gentl. Mag. XXV. 408/1 Other bastard or mule plants. 1800 E. Darwin Phytol. 115 A mule cabbage is described..which is said to fatten a beast six weeks sooner than turneps. a 1833 J. T. Smith Bk. for Rainy Day (1861) 163 note, Which, by reason of Mr. Bentley's fancy mouldings, interfering so often with parts which are really chaste, must be considered a mule building. 1892 Berwick Advertiser 16 Sept. 2/1 Cheviot and mule lambs. |
c. Special combinations:
mule armadillo,
Dasypus septemcinctus or hybridus;
mule-beater, a stick used for beating mules;
mule-bird,
mule canary, a cross between a canary and another finch,
esp. the goldfinch;
mule chest (see
quot. 1911);
mule coble = sense 4 b;
mule-colt U.S., a young mule;
mule deer,
Odocoileus hemionus, a black-tailed deer native to western North America, and distinguished by its large ears;
† mule-doctor [
= late L.
mūlomedicus], a veterinary surgeon;
mule doubler Cotton manuf., a doubling machine resembling the ‘mule’ (sense 4 a);
mule-ear(ed) rabbit = jack-rabbit;
mule('s) fern, a name for
Asplenium hemionitis;
mule-gate, the space in a spinning-room within which a mule works;
mule-headed a., stubborn;
† mule herd, a keeper or driver of mules;
mule jenny = sense 4 a;
mule-killer U.S., (
a) (see
quot. 1847); (
b) (see
quots. 1890 and 1899);
mule-litter, a litter borne by mules;
† mule-medicine [
= late L.
mūlomedicīna], farriery; hence
mule-medicinal a.;
mule rabbit U.S. (see
quot.);
= mule-ear(ed) rabbit;
mule-skinner N. Amer., a prairie mule-driver; hence
mule-skinning vbl. n.;
mule-stair (?
nonce-wd.), a mountain ascent practicable for mules;
mule-sweep = mule-gate;
mule twist,
yarn, yarn spun on a mule;
mule-whacker U.S., a mule-driver.
| 1840 Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 124 The *Mule Armadillo..Dasypus septemcinctus. |
| 1909 E. Banks Mystery F. Farrington 123 Pedro took up one of the disused *mule-beaters, and laid it on him thick and fast. |
| 1768 Pennant Zool. II. 317 These birds will produce with the goldfinch and linnet, and the offspring is called a *mule-bird, because, like that animal, it proves barren. |
| 1885 Cassell's Encycl. Dict., *Mule canary. |
| 1911 Blake & Reveirs-Hopkins Little Bks. Old Furnit.: Tudor to Stuart vi. 96 In some cases during the transition from the simple chest to the chest of drawers, we find a chest with drawer or drawers below and false drawer fronts to match on the upper portion. The old chest lid is still retained. This type, being a hybrid, is known amongst collectors as the ‘*Mule Chest’. 1923 J. C. Rogers Eng. Furnit. ii. 15 The ‘mule chest’, or dower chest, with its proverbial bottom drawer. 1972 Country Life 21 Dec. 1752/1 A well proportioned 18th century mule chest of well coloured mahogany. |
| 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 16 Model of Improved *Mule Coble for Herring Fishery. |
| 1788 G. Washington Diaries (1925) III. 400 Turned..the two yearling *Mule Colts..into the Clover Paddock. 1885 Rep. Indian Affairs (U.S.) 11 The increase has been 8 horse and mule colts, 50 calves, and 150 pigs. |
| 1805 M. Lewis Jrnl. 10 May in Lewis & Clark Orig. Jrnls. Lewis & Clark Expedition (1904) II. 21 With the *mule deer the horns consist of two beams. 1806 Lewis & Clark Trav. Missouri, etc. (1893) III. 844 The mule-deer inhabit both the sea-coast and the plains of the Missouri. 1806 W. Clark Jrnl. 11 Mar. in Ibid. (1905) IV. 158 The Ears and the tail of this Animale [sic] when compared with those of the Common Deer, so well comported with those of the Mule when compared with the Horse, that we have by way of distinction adapted [sic] the appellation of the Mule Deer. 1880 Scribner's Monthly May 129/1 For meat we have bacon and generally steaks or roasted ribs of elk, mule-deer or mountain sheep. 1936 D. McCowan Animals Canad. Rockies xxxi. 265 A full grown Mule deer measures about sixty five inches from nose to tail, stands from forty to forty two inches high at the shoulder and..weighs from two hundred to two hundred and fifty pounds. 1962 E. Lucia Klondike Kate viii. 170 The big handsome mule deer wandered right into the yard. 1972 Village Voice (N.Y.) 1 June 75/2 At dusk mule deer venture out to graze under the apple trees. |
| 1706 Phillips (ed. Kersey), Mulo-medicina, Medicine for Cattel, the Art and Mystery of a *Mule-Doctor, or Farrier. |
| 1877 I. Watts in Encycl. Brit. VI. 491/1 (Cotton), Machines used in cotton-spinning..*mule doublers or twiners. |
| 1855 Life Illustrated 10 Nov. 16/3 She will follow the mountain or ‘*mule-eared’ rabbits. 1885 C. A. Siringo Texas Cowboy 142, I had just eaten a mule-eared rabbit. 1889 H. H. McConnell Five Yrs. a Cavalryman 56 The English hare..is not nearly so large as our jack or ‘mule-ear’ rabbit. |
| 1668 Wilkins Real Char. ii. iv. §3. 71 *Mule Fearn, Hemionitis. |
| 1892 J. Nasmith Student's Cotton Spinning 409 The pillars..are so pitched that they fall into the alleys between the mules and not into the mule-gate. |
| 1884 ‘Mark Twain’ Huck. Finn xxix. 278 That *mule-headed old fool wouldn't give in then! |
| 1792 in Patents Abridgm. Specif. Spinning (1866) 53 Those machines commonly known by the names of roving billies, and slobbing, and common, and *mule jennies. |
| 1847 Knickerbocker XXIX. 161 One might have seen a small French cart, of the sort very appropriately called a ‘*mule-killer’. 1852 J. Evans Let. 30 Apr. in G. N. Jones Florida Plantation Rec. (1927) 67, I would Call the New Waggon a nother Mule killer. 1890 Cent. Dict., Mule-killer, the whip-tailed scorpion, Thelyphonus giganteus. 1899 Mem. Amer. Folk-Lore Soc. VII. 63 Mule-killer, devil's war-horse, praying mantis. Kansas. |
| 1887 J. D. Billings Hardtack & Coffee xvi. 315 Another invention for the transportation of the wounded from the field was the Cacolet or *Mule Litter. 1904 R. J. Farrer Garden of Asia 81 Nor does a mule-litter hurry upon the road. |
| 1716 M. Davies Athen. Brit. III. Diss. Physick 46 The old Writers of the Rustick or Country-Physicks are generally the same that writ of *Mule-Medicines. |
| Ibid. 44 Those *Mulemedicinal Authors, therein contain'd are Absyrtus, Prusuensis, æmilius Hispanus [etc.]. |
| 1857 Spirit of Times 28 Feb. 414/3 Some of our expedition..went farther out, for the purpose of fetching in some of the deer, bar, and *mule rabbits aforesaid. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer., Jackass Rabbit (Lepus callotis)... It is known also by the names of Mule Rabbit, Texan Hare, and Blacktailed Hare. 1877 S. W. Cozzens Crossing Quicksands 80 More commonly known as the ‘mule’ rabbit, so called on account of its enormous ears. |
| 1870 J. H. Beadle Life in Utah 224, I took to the plains..in the capacity of a ‘*mule-skinner’. 1888 T. Roosevelt in Century Mag. Feb. 499 The brawny teamsters, known either as ‘bull-whackers’ or as ‘mule-skinners’, stalking beside their slow-moving teams. 1889 J. McLean Indians v. 198 The men..are called bull-whackers and mule-skinners, applied to freighters who drive oxen or mules. 1962 A. Fry Ranch on Cariboo 160 I'd the repertoire of a mule-skinner, developed behind a wide variety of knotheaded horses. |
| 1881 E. W. Nye Bill Nye & Boomerang 34 A practical knowledge of..*mule skinning, vocal music, horsemanship. 1945 B. MacDonald Egg & I 50 If only I had studied carpentry or mule skinning instead of ballet. 1971 J. Gray Red Lights vii. 158 Nicholas Sheran gave up mule-skinning for coal mining. |
| 1864 M. J. Higgins Ess. (1875) 179 The steep and stony *mule-stair between Monaco and Turbia. |
| 1869 Overland Monthly III. 9 Here..is a cotton gin..and ponderous wooden wheels, and the *mule-sweep underneath. |
| 1864 Trevelyan Compet. Wallah (1866) 92 *Mule-twist. |
| 1873 J. H. Beadle Undevel. West iv. 88 The streets were thronged with motley crowds of railroad men and *mule-whackers. 1889 H. O'Reilly 50 Yrs. on Trail 357 The town was full of cow-punchers, mule-whackers, [etc.]. |
| 1825 J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 380 The whole of which are essential in the manufacture of *mule yarn. |
▪ II. mule2 (
mjuːl)
Forms: 5
moule,
mowlle, 5–6
mowle, 6–7
moyle,
mull(e, 6–8
moile, 7
mool(e,
muille, 9
Sc. muil, 4–
mule.
[a. F. mule fem., slipper, mules pl., chilblains; corresp. to It. mula, Sp. (dim.) mulilla slipper; cf. MDu. mûle (Du. muil) slipper, chilblain (from Fr.).] † 1. A chilblain on the heel; also, in later use, a sore on a horse's heel.
Obs.| a 1400 Brev. Barth. in Sinon. Barthol. (Anecd. Oxon.) 3 De apostemate et cissuris in calcaneo quæ vulgaliter dicuntur mule. 14.. Nom. in Wr.-Wülcker 707/32 Hec podegra, Hic pernio, a mowlle. c 1500 Mowlis [see mare2 1]. 1607 Topsell Four-f Beasts (1658) 318 Of Mules or Kibed heels. c 1720 W. Gibson Farrier's Guide ii. lxxxiii. (1738) 244 Mules or Kib'd Heels..are chinks and sores on the inside of the hind Pasterns, and in the Heels. |
2. A kind of slipper or shoe.
Sometimes used to render the like-sounding L.
mulleus, a coloured shoe worn by Roman magistrates.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 214 Thou wearst..Moyles of veluet to saue thy shooes of lether. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomenclator, Mulleus, a shooe with a high sole,..a moyle. a 1586 in Maitland Poems (1786) 184 Thair mullis glitteran on thair feit. 1603 Philotus xix, Lo Maistres heir ȝour Muillis [v.r. mooles]. a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Bannatyne Cl.) II. 249 He had..ane pair of mules on his feit. 1824 Scott Redgauntlet Let. xi, He seldom wore shoon, unless it were muils when he had the gout. 1894 Sir E. Sullivan Woman 52 She [Mlle, de Caynon] threw them her velvet mules that the executioner had left her. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt xx. 254 She wore..torn stockings thrust into streaky pink satin mules. 1944 H. Croome You've gone Astray v. 43 Kitty was gone in a light clatter of pink mules. 1973 ‘I. Drummond’ Jaws of Watchdog xii. 160 The girl..padded softly across the room in her fluffy mules. |
▪ III. † mule3 Obs.| c 1410 Master of Game (MS. Digby 182) xxiv, Whann he hath gret beemes alle aboute, as if it were sette lyke as it were with smale stones, and þe mules nere þe heede. Ibid., Þe aunteleres, þe whiche beth þe first tyndes, beth gret and longe and nere þe mules and wele apperynge. |
▪ IV. mule variant of
mewl v. and
mool dial.