ferule
/ˈfɛɹuːl/
ferule noun: a ruler-shaped instrument, generally used to slap naughty children on the hand.
Noun
ferule (plural ferules)
- A ruler-shaped instrument, generally used to slap naughty children on the hand.
- In his hand he swayed a ferule, that sceptre of despotic power; the birch of justice reposed on three nails behind the throne, a constant terror to evil doers, […].1820 March 5, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”, in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., number VI, New York, N.Y.: […] C[ornelius] S. Van Winkle...
- He [a midshipman] lords it over those below him, while lorded over himself by his superiors. 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.1850, Herman Melville, “Something Concerning Midshipmen”, in White-Jacket; or, The World in a Man-of-War, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers; London: Richard Bentley, published 1855...
- Synonyms:
- ferula
Verb
ferule (third-person singular simple present ferules, present participle feruling, simple past and past participle feruled)
- To punish with a ferule.
- 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[…].1862, William S. Woodbridge, Captain Paul's Adventure: A "Charcoal Sketch": Ballou's Dollar Monthly Magazine, Volume 15, page 72
ferule meaning in Hindi, Tamil and Urdu
ferule in Hindi
- a ferule
- साम sām
ferule in Tamil
- அடிக்கும் பிரம்பு, அடிக்குங் கோல், சிறார்களை அடிக்க உதவும் கோல், பள்ளி ஒழுக்கம், கைகளில் பரந்த இடத்தில் அடிவிழ, ஏதுவாக உண்டாக்கியிருப்பர்
ferule in Urdu
- a ferule
- سامی sāmī
Examples of ferule in a sentence
- 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; […]1851, George Borrow, chapter VI, in Lavengro; the Scholar—the Gypsy—the Priest. […], volume I, London: John Murray […], →OCLC, page 85:
- His rod and his ferule were seldom idle now—at least among the smaller pupils.1876, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter XXI, in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Hartford, Conn.: The American...
Synonyms of ferule
Forms of ferule
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | ferules |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | ferules |
| present participle | feruling |
| past participle | feruled |
| past | feruled |
Origin of ferule
From Middle French ferule (modern French férule), from Latin ferula (“giant fennel”). Doublet of ferula.
Words formed from ferule
Words that rhyme with ferule
Questions about ferule
- What does ferule mean?
- Ferule means a ruler-shaped instrument, generally used to slap naughty children on the hand.
- What is ferule in Hindi?
- Ferule in Hindi is साम (sām). See Ferule meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use ferule in a sentence?
- 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; […]
- What part of speech is ferule?
- Ferule can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce ferule?
- Ferule is pronounced /ˈfɛɹuːl/.
- What is the plural of ferule?
- The plural of ferule is ferules.
Words near ferule in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ferule (page history and authors); साम (Hindi) (page history and authors); ferule (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); سامی (Urdu) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-ferule.wav.
Cite this entry: “ferule.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ferule. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.