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headless mule

American  
[hed-lis myool] / ˈhɛd lɪs ˈmjul /

noun

  1. a ghostly creature of Brazilian legend that is said to have been a woman who fornicated with a priest and is now condemned to gallop about as a headless mule with fire spewing from its neck.

    The headless mule rampages through the town on moonless nights.

Etymology

Origin of headless mule

First recorded in 1945–50

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

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