mulley

See also: Mulley

English

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Adjective

mulley (not comparable)

1. Alternative form of muley
   • 1881 February, John Hankins Wallace, “Polled Cattle”, in Wallace's Monthly, volume 7, number 1, page 29:

     Every little while I see in The Rural an article published in favor of growing mulley or hornless stock. Allow an old man of three-score years and ten, to give his experience in raising stock of the mulley kind.

   • 1893, John D. Bloodgood, Personal Reminiscences of the War, page 77:

     Surrounding the whole herd, they quietly drove it down into a valley out of sight of the house, and while doing so discovered that of the whole herd there was but one animal sufficiently fat to satisfy the pampered taste of a soldier, and that was a mulley bull.

Noun

mulley (plural mulleys)

1. (US) A hornless or polled animal.
   • 1929, Lowell Thomas, Woodfill of the Regulars, page 163:

     A female caribou has antlers same as a bull, but a cow moose is a mulley.

2. (UK, dialect, childish) A cow.
   • 1573, Thomas Tusser, Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry:

     Leave milking and dry up old mulley, thy cow.

   • 2020, Steigrumur J. Porsteinsson, Einar H. Kvaran, Jón Trausti, 7 best short stories - Iceland:

     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.

3. (UK, dialect) A mule.
   • 1864, Kingsbridge Estuary, with Rambles in the Neighbourhood, page 56:

     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 connected his home with the street below, "like a Christian," as we were once informed.

   • 1866, Samuel Wills, The British Chief and Other Poems, page 45:

     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.

   • 1933, Report and Transactions - The Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art, page 346:

     'What is a mulley, father?' 'Why a thing, Jan, what had a jack-ass for his father and a 'oss for his mother.'

4. A giant Asian catfish, Wallagonia Attu found in India, Sri Lanka, Burma, Indochina, Thailand, Java, and Sumatra.
   • 1956, The March of India - Volume 8, page 15:

     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.

   • 2011, Jeremy Wade, River Monsters:

     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.

   • 2013, Simren Kaur, Fin Feather and Field, page 134:

     I was overwhelmed with mixed feelings of triumph and sorrow I must admit, as I watched the Mulley come swimming along reluctantly, a beautiful, sleek supple black-seeming fish.

5. An upright crank-driven saw with no gate or sash.
   • 1856 December 6, M. English, “Which is the best Saw Mill? The Mulley”, in Scientific American, volume 12, number 13, page 99:

     I have used the mulley in several mills in this State and Indiana.

   • 1870, David Craik, The Practical American Millwright and Miller, page 216:

     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.

   • 1918, Jay Manuel Whitham, Water Rights Determination: From an Engineering Standpoint, page 56:

     The mulley saw was thicker and stiffer than the gate saw, and cut a wider kerf ( Pallett, Elliott, Craik ).

   • 1977, Henry Hudson Hutchins, Kit Lane, Recollections of the Pioneers of Western Allegan County, page 32:

     It was a sash saw mill, and as a sash saw mill ran more slowly than a mulley, the capacity of the mill could not have been very large.

6. A light-weight harvest rake.
   • 1852, Transactions of the Michigan State Agricultural Society, page 104:

     a mulley harvest rake, a very light, handy and convenient article, Sam'l Stanton , Plymouth --------Diploma

   • 1976, Catherine Howland, Scrapbook History of Decatur, Michigan and Vicinity, page 570:

     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.

7. A hipped gable.
   • 1894, Carpentry and Building - Volume 16, page 258:

     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.

8. A mixture of clay and loam.
   • 1873, “Organ Building– Marbleized Slate”, in The American Exchange and Review, volume 22, page 61:

     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 withdrawn, the straw covering consumed, the "mulley" remaining.

   • 1877 November 16, “Replies to Queries”, in English Mechanic and Mirror of Science and Art, volume 26, page 242:

     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.

   • 1896, Philip John Davies, Standard Practical Plumbing, page 544:

     This works the "mulley" all over the bearing surfaces of the key.

Anagrams

• Lumley