Wiktionary

mule

See also: Mule, mulé, Mulè, mûle, m̧uļe, and mulę

EnglishEdit

 
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a mule

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Middle English mule, from Anglo-Norman mule and Old English mūl, both from Latin mūlus, from Proto-Indo-European *mukslós. Compare Late Latin muscellus (“young he-mule”), Old East Slavic мъшкъ (mŭškŭ, “mule”), Ancient Greek (Phocian) μυχλός (mukhlós, “he-ass”), and German Maul Maultier, Maulesel (through Latin).

NounEdit

mule (plural mules)

  1. The generally sterile male or female hybrid offspring of a male donkey and a female horse.
    • 2017, Robert S. McPherson, Cowboying In Canyon Country, Dog Ear Publishing, →ISBN, page 200:
      One day he ran into a herd of a half dozen elk, so he rode his mule down the canyon three or four miles, leaving the sheep alone.
  2. The generally sterile hybrid offspring of any two species of animals.
    • 1922, Onnie Warren Smith, The Book of the Pike, page 187:
      It would be exceedingly interesting to know if the hybrid would reproduce, a matter I deem exceedingly doubtful, for the chances are it would prove a "mule" (infertile).
  3. (now rare) A hybrid plant. [from 18th c.]
    • 1789, Erasmus Darwin, The Loves of the Plants, J. Johnson, page 149:
      Vegetable mules supply an irrefragable argument in favour of the sexual system of botany.
    • 1837, William Herbert, Amaryllidaceæ: Preceded by an Attempt to Arrange the Monocotyledonous Orders, and Followed by a Treatise on Cross-bred Vegetables, and Supplement, page 353:
      The most extraordinary mule, however, that is asserted to have been produced on the Continent, is a cross between the cabbage and horse-radish, which Monsieur Sageret reports that he has obtained […]
  4. (informal) A stubborn person.
    Synonyms: see Thesaurus:stubborn person
    • 2005, Dorothea Benton Frank, Isle of Palms, Penguin, →ISBN:
      "Where in the hell do you think I learned to be such a mule?”
  5. (slang) A person paid to smuggle drugs.
    • 2006, “Gastroenterology: Esophageal Foreign Bodies”, in Steven E. Diaz, The Little Black Book of Emergency Medicine (Jones and Bartlett's Little Black Book Series), 2nd edition, Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, →ISBN, page 101:
      Cocaine packet ingestion (these patients referred to as “mules”) may warrant surgery, Golytely or expectant passage.
    • 2007, Thomas G. Blacklock, Safe Zone: A Novel Approach to the Drug War, Xlibris Corporation, →ISBN, page 44:
      “Yeah, in Denver, we know about Uriarte's involvement in meth. Our Las Cruces office seized over six hundred pounds of methamphetamine from two of his mules last year.”
  6. (numismatics) A coin or medal minted with obverse and reverse designs not normally seen on the same piece, either intentionally or in error.
    • 1988, Andrew Burnett, The Normanby hoard and other Roman coin hoards, British Museum Publications:
      What is less clear, however, is why mint workers should have chosen to produce mules, if they were making forgeries […]
  7. (roleplaying games) A MMORPG character, or NPC companion in a tabletop RPG, used mainly to store extra inventory for the owner's primary character.
    • 2007, David L. McClard, Verotopia Online: The MMORPG of the Century‎[1], Xlibris, →ISBN, page 89:
      He was in the middle of organizing his massive stash of rare and exquisite bounty, all kept safely in the inventory cache of a mule, an entirely separate character which he paid a monthly fee to maintain exclusively for that purpose.
    • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:mule.
  8. Any of a group of cocktails involving ginger ale or ginger beer, citrus juice, and various liquors.
  9. (sailing) A kind of triangular sail for a yacht.
    • 1974, Yachting, volume 135, page 60:
      In heavier seas where a boat must sail a course dictated by waves, or where wave action makes power more important than pointing, the mule will prove the faster sail.
  10. A kind of cotton-spinning machine.
SynonymsEdit
Derived termsEdit
DescendantsEdit
  • → Irish: miúil
TranslationsEdit
See alsoEdit

VerbEdit

mule (third-person singular simple present mules, present participle muling, simple past and past participle muled)

  1. (transitive, slang) To smuggle (illegal drugs).
    • 2000, Arturo Longoria, Keepers of the Wilderness:
      There are many drug lords, each with his own corridor (think of it as a franchise of sorts) funneling narcotics into Texas. There are multifold methods of transport. The old, and still viable, way is to "mule" it across the Rio Grande in a small boat.
    • 2004, William Glenn, The Sailor's Death:
      Thornton was supposed to mule it back to the States from one of the ports he stopped in, give it to Maxwell and Ames, and get the second half of a quarter-million.

Etymology 2Edit

From Middle French mule (“slipper”), from Latin mulleus calceus (“red shoe”), from mullus (“red”).

NounEdit

mule (plural mules)

  2. A shoe that has no fitting or strap around the heel, but which covers the foot.
    • 1944, Emily Carr, “First Tenant”, in The House of All Sorts‎[2]:
      The bride was a shocking housekeeper and dragged round all day in boudoir cap, frowsy negligee and mules—slip, slop, slip, slop.
    • 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 29:
      Routine dress for Tuesday will be bra and panties with high-heel satin mules.
TranslationsEdit

Ambonese MalayEdit

EtymologyEdit

Unknown. Perhaps borrowed from Dutch smuilen.

VerbEdit

mule

  1. to smile
    Kalu dia bicara salalu mule.
    Every time he talks he smiles.

NounEdit

mule

  1. smile

ReferencesEdit

  • D. Takaria, C. Pieter (1998) Kamus Bahasa Melayu Ambon-Indonesia‎[3], Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa

DanishEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /muːlə/, [ˈmuːlə]

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse múli, from Proto-Germanic *mūlô.

NounEdit

mule c (singular definite mulen, plural indefinite muler)

  1. muzzle
InflectionEdit
Declension of mule
common
gender 		Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative mule mulen muler mulerne
genitive mules mulens mulers mulernes

Etymology 2Edit

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

VerbEdit

mule (imperative mul, infinitive at mule, present tense muler, past tense mulede, perfect tense har mulet)

  1. pommel, pummel, pound, lick
  2. sulk
SynonymsEdit

FrenchEdit

EtymologyEdit

Inherited from Old French mule, from Latin mūla, feminine of mūlus.

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

mule f (plural mules)

  1. mule (animal)
  2. mule (footwear)
  3. mule (for drug smuggling)
    Synonym: bouletteux

Derived termsEdit

Further readingEdit

ItalianEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈmu.le/
  • Rhymes: -ule
  • Hyphenation: mù‧le

NounEdit

mule f

  1. plural of mula

AnagramsEdit

LatinEdit

NounEdit

mūle

  1. vocative singular of mūlus

ReferencesEdit

Lower SorbianEdit

PronunciationEdit

  • IPA(key): /ˈmulɛ/, [ˈmulə]

NounEdit

mule

  1. nominative/accusative plural of mul
  2. inflection of mula:
    1. genitive singular
    2. nominative/accusative plural

Middle EnglishEdit

Etymology 1Edit

Borrowed from Anglo-Norman mule, from Latin mūla, feminine of mūlus; reinforced by native Old English mūl, from the same Latin source.

Alternative formsEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

mule (plural mules)

  1. mule (donkey-horse hybrid)
  2. (rare) hinny
  3. (rare) idiot
DescendantsEdit
ReferencesEdit

Etymology 2Edit

NounEdit

mule

  1. Alternative form of mylne

Norwegian BokmålEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Norse múli, from Proto-Germanic *mūlô.

NounEdit

mule m (definite singular mulen, indefinite plural muler, definite plural mulene)

  1. muzzle

ReferencesEdit

AnagramsEdit

Norwegian NynorskEdit

PronunciationEdit

Etymology 1Edit

From Old Norse múli, from Proto-Germanic *mūlô.

NounEdit

mule m (definite singular mulen, indefinite plural mular, definite plural mulane)

  1. muzzle
Related termsEdit

Etymology 2Edit

From Old Norse múli, from Proto-Germanic *mūlô. The verb is derived from the noun.

VerbEdit

mule (present tense mular, past tense mula, past participle mula, passive infinitive mulast, present participle mulande, imperative mule/mul)

  1. (intransitive) to pout

ReferencesEdit

Etymology 3Edit

AdjectiveEdit

mule

  1. (eye dialect spelling, Trøndelag) Alternative form of mogeleg (“possible”)

AnagramsEdit

Old SwedishEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old Norse múli, from Proto-Germanic *mūlô.

NounEdit

mūle m

  1. muzzle

DeclensionEdit

Declension of mūle (an-stem)
singular plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative mūle mūlen mūlar mūlarnir
accusative mūla mūlan mūla mūlana
dative mūla mūlanom mūlom mūlonom
genitive mūla mūlans mūla mūlanna

DescendantsEdit

PolishEdit

PronunciationEdit

NounEdit

mule

  1. locative/vocative singular of muł

NounEdit

mule

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of mul

NounEdit

mule

  1. nominative/accusative/vocative plural of mula

AdjectiveEdit

mule

  1. inflection of muli:
    1. neuter nominative/accusative/vocative singular
    2. nonvirile nominative/accusative/vocative plural

Further readingEdit

  • mule in Polish dictionaries at PWN

VolapükEdit

NounEdit

mule

  1. dative singular of mul
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