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muelle

dock

noun MWEH-yeh Rare
Travel & Places Transportation

Origin: The dock and spring senses are unrelated homonyms: the spring is from Latin mollis (soft, flexible); the harbour pier is from Catalan moll, from Latin moles (mass).

Also means

spring

Usage Note

Muelle is a homonym: it means both a harbour dock or pier (el muelle del puerto) and a mechanical coil spring (el muelle de un colchón). Context makes the meaning clear. There is also a literary adjective muelle meaning 'soft' or 'easy', rare in modern use.

Examples

"El barco atracó en el muelle."

Natural Translation

The ship docked at the pier.

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