Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A short red cape suspended from a hollow staff, used by a matador to maneuver a bull during the final passes before a kill.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun bullfighting A red flag used by bullfighters.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Spanish, small mule, crutch, muleta, diminutive of mula, she-mule, from Latin mūla, feminine of mūlus, mule.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Borrowing from Spanish muleta, diminutive of mulo.

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Examples

  • The basic muleta passes are the ‘trincherazo’, generally done with one knee on the ground and at the beginning of the faena; the ‘pase de la firma’, simply moving the cloth in front of the bulls nose while the matador remains motionless; the ‘manoletina’, where the muleta is held behind the body; and the ‘natural’, where the estoque is removed from the muleta, making it a smaller target.

    Life And Death Ritual - La Corrida 2006

  • The "hora de verdad" refers to the moment when the matador entices the bull with the "muleta" (the red cape draped over a stick) and, with the precision of the anaesthetist hitting the epidural space in an obese patient, plunges the sword into the bull's neck for the kill.

    Latest headlines from BMJ D. K. Sokol 2010

  • The "hora de verdad" refers to the moment when the matador entices the bull with the "muleta" (the red cape draped over a stick) and, with the precision of the anaesthetist hitting the epidural space in an obese patient, plunges the sword into the bull's neck for the kill.

    Latest headlines from BMJ D. K. Sokol 2010

  • It is a more difficult and dangerous maneuver than the 'derechazo,' where the left hand is free and the muleta red cloth and sword are held in the right.

    Photo-Op: Danse Macabre 2011

  • Lowering the muleta, Hernando set Carlos's head low and prepared to plunge the sword deep between the shoulder blades.

    Carlos The Impossible (Part 2) JTK Belle 2010

  • The end comes, not with a flash of the muleta, not at the end of a pic.

    Carlos The Impossible (Part 2) JTK Belle 2010

  • His weapon was neither sword nor muleta, but a 1962 Dodge.

    Maggie Van Ostrand: Bullfights Out. Ferdinand In. 2010

  • Suki lifts her chin and raises her muleta, offering it, flaring, to the beast.

    The Lady Matador’s Hotel Cristina García 2010

  • Not to mention Suarez, Villacorta, Ordonez, all of whom had lost their footwork, bent back the muleta with their cowardly elbows, and lost their nerves in the ways he so despised.

    Carlos The Impossible (Part 2) JTK Belle 2010

  • Gathering up his muleta quickly, he leapt again—inasmuch as he could—but with only one leg to propel him he failed to gain the height he needed to plant the sword in the morillo.

    Carlos The Impossible (Part 2) JTK Belle 2010

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