Mule n.
1. Zool. A hybrid animal; specifically, one generated between an ass and a mare. Sometimes the term is applied to the offspring of a horse and a she-ass, but that hybrid is more properly termed a hinny. 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 Zool., a long-eared armadillo Tatusia hybrida, native of Buenos Ayres; -- called also mulita. See Illust. under Armadillo.
Mule deer Zool., a large deer (Cervus macrotis syn. 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.
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