mule litter

noun

A litter pulled or borne by one or more mules.

First used 1855

Meanings

nounmule litter (plural mule litters)

plural mule litters · alternative mule-litter · alternative mulelitter

  1. A litter pulled or borne by one or more mules.First known use 1855
    1 more example

    The traveller may ride a donkey, a mule, or a pony; or he may use a barrow, a cart, a sedan chair, a boat, or a shentzŭ... The shentzŭ belongs more particularly to the north, and might be best described as a large sedan chair having an arched roof, the floor of the chair roomy enough to let a person lie on it; but whereas the chair is carried on men's shoulders, the shafts of the shentzŭ rest on the backs of mules. Shentzŭ is the Chinese name for what we would call a mule litter. As this conveyance can go over almost any kind of road, I decided on it, and engaged two mules for the litter, and a donkey for the baggage: the three animals with the shentzŭ and a man cost 1300 cash per day when we travelled, and 700 cash per day when we rested from any cause.

    1896, Alexander Armstrong, In a Mule Litter to the Tomb of Confucius, pages 2-3

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 騾轎 /骡轿, 騾馱轎 /骡驮轿
  • 騾轎 /骡轿Translations
  • 騾馱轎 /骡驮轿Translations
  • 軕子Translations
Latin basterna
  • basternaTranslations
Cite this entry
APA

mule litter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mule%20litter

MLA

“mule litter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mule%20litter. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “mule litter,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/mule%20litter.

Source: mule litter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.