mule skinner
- noun
- /ˈmjuːl ˈskɪnər/
- Archaic
:
muleteador
- I'm Jack Crabb, the mule skinner!
Examples
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The experienced mule skinner guided the team through the rugged mountain trails.
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Do you need another mule skinner working on your new road line?
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What are you doing up here, mule skinner?
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What's your answer, mule skinner?
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Hire the mule skinner!
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...a mule skinner.
-
And he reached back like a mule skinner with a whip, pulling the memories forward, seeing himself working on the Shadow in his father's gas station thirty years before.
Fiction book (1993) -
Our mule skinner ensured that all the animals were well-fed and ready for the journey.
-
As a skilled mule skinner, he was responsible for handling the mules during the long trek.
Synonyms
53
5.8
A person who guides animals that pull a carriage or wagon
2
7.9
A person who drives a team of horses to pull a wagon
1
9.9
A person who drives and cares for mules as a job
1
9.9
A person who drives animals like mules to pull carts
A person who leads mules to carry goods
A person who drives animals like horses to pull a wagon or plough
Surface Forms
Morphology
The component 'mule' is transparent, but 'skinner' is not a productive, obvious agent-form for 'drive' to a B1 learner — it is more likely to be misread as someone who skins animals. The overall meaning (a person who drives and cares for mules) could be guessed as 'someone who works with mules' but the specific occupational sense is not fully predictable without prior exposure.
Etymology
Mule skinner comes from old slang where skinner meant a person who drove a team of mules. Picture someone walking behind the mules, guiding them along rough roads and caring for their loads, so mule skinner means 'a person who drives and takes care of mules'.