ferule

See also: férule

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ferula

Noun

ferule (plural ferules)

1. A ruler-shaped instrument, generally used to slap naughty children on the hand.
   • 1850, Melville, White-Jacket, chapter 52

     It is as if with one hand a school-boy snapped his fingers at a dog, and at the same time received upon the other the discipline of the usher's ferule.

   • 1851, George Borrow, Lavengro, chapter 6

     The master, who stood at the end of the room, with a huge ferule under his arm, bent full upon me a look of stern appeal; [...]

   • 1876, Mark Twain, Tom Sawyer, chapter 21

     His rod and his ferule were seldom idle now -- at least among the smaller pupils.

Translations

Ruler-shaped instrument

• French: férule (fr) f
• Portuguese: palmatória (pt) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Russian: ферула (ru) f (ferula)
• Swedish: färla (sv) c

Verb

1. (transitive) To punish with a ferule.
   • 1862, William S. Woodbridge, Captain Paul's Adventure: A "Charcoal Sketch", Ballou's Dollar Monthly Magazine, Volume 15, page 72,

     And they were right in their assumption; I could cudgel a great lubberly delinquent of a boy […] but when it came to feruling a girl […] my manhood rebelled […] .

Related terms

• ferulary

Anagrams

• fueler, refuel