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Showing results for "ferule"
Synonyms

ferule

1 American  
[fer-uhl, -ool] / ˈfɛr əl, -ul /

noun

  1. Also a rod, cane, or flat piece of wood for punishing children, especially by striking them on the hand.


verb (used with object)

feruled, feruling
  1. to punish with a ferule.

ferule 2 American  
[fer-uhl, -ool] / ˈfɛr əl, -ul /

noun

feruled, feruling
  1. ferrule.


ferule 1 British  
/ -rəl, ˈfɛruːl /

noun

  1. a flat piece of wood, such as a ruler, used in some schools to cane children on the hand

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

verb

  1. rare (tr) to punish with a ferule

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
ferule 2 British  
/ ˈfɛruːl, -rəl /

noun

  1. a variant spelling of ferrule

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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

He went straight to Zeus’ throne and filled a ferule with it, and carried it to his people.

From Nature Myths and Stories for Little Children by Flora J. (Flora Juliette) Cooke

He sighed, striking at the ground with the ferule of his stick.

From Miss Arnott's Marriage by Richard Marsh

He handled a ferule while the Miserere lasted, although he did not, on account of the entreaties of those who were present, strike the capitulars with it.

From The Philippine Islands, 1493-1898—Volume 39 of 55 Explorations by Early Navigators, Descriptions of the Islands and Their Peoples, Their History and Records of The Catholic Missions, As Related in Contemporaneous Books and Manuscripts, Showing the Political, Economic, Commercial and Religious Conditions of Those Islands from Their Earliest Relations with European Nations to the Close of the Nineteenth Century, Volume XXXIX: 1683-1690 by Emma Helen Blair

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

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 Thomas Carlyle

“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 Mrs. S. S. Robbins

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 C. A. (Charles Asbury) Stephens

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