Mule (?), n. [F., a she-mule, L. mula, fem. of mulus; cf. Gr. , . Cf. AS. ml, fr. L. mulus. Cf. Mulatto.]
1. Zool.
A hybrid animal; specifically, one generated between an ass and a mare, sometimes a horse and a she-ass. See Hinny.
⇒ 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, ∨ 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 1913.