ferule
1 Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
noun
verb
noun
Etymology
Origin of ferule
1375–1425; late Middle English ferula, ferul ( e ) giant fennel < Latin ferula schoolmaster's rod (literally, stalk of giant fennel); replacing Old English ferele < Latin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
A kind of miracle happened: the ferule of the teacher became the poet's magic wand.
From Time Magazine Archive
Yen picked up his ferule and hit it like a student.
From "The Woman Warrior" by Maxine Hong Kingston
But the ordinary public chastisement was the bastinado, a stroke or two on the palm with that almost obsolete weapon now, the ferule.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 14, No. 85, November, 1864 by Various
Just then, the stern face of Mr. Ball, the master, appeared at the door; he rapped sharply with his ferule, and called: “Books, books, books!”
From The Hoosier School-boy by Eggleston, Edward
He sighed, striking at the ground with the ferule of his stick.
From Miss Arnott's Marriage by Marsh, Richard
He has his volunteer Bodyguard of Tappe-durs, let us say Strike-sharps, fierce Patriots with feruled sticks; and Jacobins kissing the hem of his garment.
From The French Revolution by Carlyle, Thomas
The mouth-piece is made of a circlet of silk-grass, and the farther end is feruled with a kind of nut, forming a sight.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 1 "Bisharin" to "Bohea" by Various
For another full minute he stared down at the girl, but he apparently had no longer any thought of feruling her.
From A Busy Year at the Old Squire's by Stephens, C. A. (Charles Asbury)
“I thank you, Mamie,” said she at last; and she stroked the little hand given to her so loyally for the sacrificial feruling, but she turned her eyes away.
From Miss Ashton's New Pupil A School Girl's Story by Robbins, Mrs. S. S.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
