释义 |
mule I. \ˈmyül\ noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English, from Old French mul, from Latin mulus, probably of non-Indo-European origin; akin to the source of Late Greek dialect (Phocian) mychlos male ass 1. : a hybrid between the horse and the ass: as a. : the usually sterile offspring of a male ass and a mare having the large head, long ears, and small hoofs of the ass and the form and size of the horse and being valued as a draft and pack animal because of its endurance and surefootedness b. : hinny 2. : a very stubborn person 3. : a plant that is self-sterile because of either infertile pollen or rudimentary pistils; usually : a hybrid that is self-sterile and cross-sterile 4. : hybrid; especially : one that is sterile — used especially of hybrids between the canary and related birds 5. [probably so called from its being regarded as combining the principles of two earlier machines] : a machine having a moving carriage for simultaneously drawing and twisting a sliver into yarn or thread and winding it into cops and used originally for cotton but now limited largely to wool — called also mule-jenny 6. : a sharp-sterned coble used on the northeast coast of England 7. : a coin or token struck from dies belonging to two different issues (as the obverse die of a cent and the reverse die of a halfpenny) 8. a. : a small usually electric locomotive (as for towing ships through a lock or pulling mine cars) b. : a light tractor (as for hauling trucks on a dock or dollies in a warehouse) 9. : a device that can be lowered vertically from across the bow of a boat so as to catch the current in the water and draw the boat along 10. : a large wooden board pulled by a windlass and used to unload grain from a railroad car II. adjective : hybrid < mule cabbage > < mule lamb > < a mule plant > III. transitive verb (-ed/-ing/-s) 1. : to combine (dies that do not match) to make a mule < mule the obverse of one token with the reverse of another > 2. : to strike (a coin or token) with nonmatching dies making a mule IV. noun (-s) Etymology: Middle English, from Middle French, chilblain, slipper obsolete : chilblain V. \ˈmyül\ noun (-s) Etymology: Middle French, chilblain, slipper, from Latin mulleus red shoe worn by dignitaries; probably akin to Greek melas black — more at mullet : a shoe or house slipper without quarter and often with a low heel VI. noun slang : a person who smuggles or delivers illicit drugs |