Word.ws English Dictionary

mulley

mulley is the alternative form of muley.

Noun

mulley (plural mulleys)

  1. (US) A hornless or polled animal.
    • A female caribou has antlers same as a bull, but a cow moose is a mulley.1929, Lowell Thomas, Woodfill of the Regulars, page 163
  2. (UK, childish, dialectal) A cow.
    • Leave milking and dry up old mulley, thy cow.1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry
    • Little brother must be good, little brother mustn't cry, little brother's going to get a drop of milk from his good old Mulley.2020, Steigrumur J. Porsteinsson, Einar H. Kvaran, Jón Trausti, 7 best short stories - Iceland
  3. (UK, dialectal) A mule.
    • Although not remarkably up in the world himself, yet he took care that the "mulley," at least, should occupy an elevated position in life; and so he had his stable on the flat roof, at the very top of the house, which is a high one; and he used to walk up and down the long flights of stairs which...1864, Kingsbridge Estuary, with Rambles in the Neighbourhood, page 56
    • Being but a little lad, I felt much afraid; With the hazel-rod I had, On the "mulley laid; Donkey kicked and ran away, And to get out of my way Turned into a field of hay, Where awhile he stayed.1866, Samuel Wills, The British Chief and Other Poems, page 45
  4. A giant Asian catfish, Wallagonia Attu found in India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Indochina, Thailand, Java, and Sumatra.
    • Streamlined for action thin, flat and long, it mouth armed with two broad lines of sharp teeth – the mulley is all that it is said to be, a "fresh water shark", an eater of offal and a killer of fish.1956, The March of India - Volume 8, page 15
    • A closer look revealed a more silvery colouration and proper teeth, identifying it as a mulley (Wallagu attu). It weighed around twenty pounds, and to prove it was no fluke, I caught three smaller.2011, Jeremy Wade, River Monsters
  5. An upright crank-driven saw with no gate or sash.
    • I have used the mulley in several mills in this State and Indiana.1856 December 6, M. English, “Which is the best Saw Mill? The Mulley”, in Scientific American, volume 12, number 13, page 99
    • These were complicated and expensive, but might easily be simplified so as to be a very valuable improvement, as the mulley, when it can be got to take the upward stroke safely and surely without increasing the thickness of the saw, is the most economical of all saws.1870, David Craik, The Practical American Millwright and Miller, page 216
  6. A light-weight harvest rake.
    • a mulley harvest rake, a very light, handy and convenient article, Sam'l Stanton , Plymouth --------Diploma1852, Transactions of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, page 104
    • Many a time has Mr. Waters swung a mulley cradle on the old farm on the north bank of Klinger lake, half way between White Pigeon and Sturgis.1976, Catherine Howland, Scrapbook History of Decatur, Michigan and Vicinity, page 570
  7. A hipped gable.
    • For instance , he could make a full gable if he likes in any place, or put on a "mulley", that is, the gable hipped a part of the way down.1894, Carpentry and Building - Volume 16, page 258
  8. A mixture of clay and loam.
    • The core is placed on a car and ran into the core-oven, where it remains about 15 hours, when it is withdrawn and receives a second coating of "mulley" and black wash, and again placed in the oven for 3 hours. After the core is centred in the mould, the molten iron is poured in, the spindle is then...1873, “Organ Building– Marbleized Slate”, in The American Exchange and Review, volume 22, page 61
    • Remove the plug, spit on it, smear a little of the mulley over it, and grind in until it gets dry and squeaks, then spit on it again, and grind away, using more mulley if necessary; rinse out with water.1877 November 16, “Replies to Queries”, in English Mechanic and Mirror of Science and Art, volume 26, page 242

Meaning of muley

Adjective

muley (not comparable)

  1. Without horns.

See all 3 meanings of muley

Proper noun capitalized: Mulley

Mulley

  1. A surname.

Forms of mulley

pluralmulleys

Questions about mulley

What does mulley mean?
Mulley means a hornless or polled animal.
What is mulley the alternative form of?
Mulley is the alternative form of muley.
What part of speech is mulley?
Mulley can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of mulley?
The plural of mulley is mulleys.

Words near mulley in the dictionary

  1. mullett
  2. mulletts
  3. mulletty
  4. mullety
  5. Mullewa
  6. mulley
  7. mulleygrubs
  8. mulleys
  9. Mullica
  10. Mullica Hill
  11. Mullican

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: mulley (page history and authors); Mulley (page history and authors); muley (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “mulley.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/mulley. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.