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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