mule skinner

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noun Informal.

a muleteer.

QUIZ

THINGAMABOB OR THINGUMMY: CAN YOU DISTINGUISH BETWEEN THE US AND UK TERMS IN THIS QUIZ?

Do you know the difference between everyday US and UK terminology? Test yourself with this quiz on words that differ across the Atlantic.

Question 1 of 7

In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

candystring

candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of mule skinner

An Americanism dating back to 1865–70

Words nearby mule skinner

mule deer, mule-ears, mule-fat, muleheaded, mules, mule skinner, Mules operation, mule spinning, muleta, muleteer, mule train

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use mule skinner in a sentence

His father was a mule-skinner—it's in the blood—can't help it possibly.
Fore!|Charles Emmett Van Loan
He swore with the sincerity of a hen with fresh-hatched chicks and the vocabulary of a mule skinner.
The Lone Ranger Rides|Fran Striker
One was a jolly Irish mule-skinner with a picturesque vocabulary and an inimitable brogue.
Oh, You Tex!|William Macleod Raine
About this time a brother mule-skinner enters, mouthing a corncob pipe.
The Stars & Stripes, Vol 1, No 1, February 8, 1918|American Expeditionary Forces

A brightly painted Indian with eagle feathered bonnet and a string of grizzly claws around his neck, won a mule skinner's money.
Chiquita, an American Novel|Merrill Tileston

British Dictionary definitions for mule skinner

mule skinner

noun

US and Canadian an informal term for muleteer

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012