ferule
/ˈfɛɹuːl/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.20 in modern English
9
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
Example Sentences
- "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, […]."
- "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."
- "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; […]"
- "The schoolmaster, always severe, grew severer and more exacting than ever, for he wanted the school to make a good showing on "Examination" day. His rod and his ferule were seldom idle now—at least among the smaller pupils."
- "It is to keep a man awake, to keep him alive to his own soul and its fixed design of righteousness, that the better part of moral and religious education is directed; not only that of words and doctors, but the sharp ferule of calamity under which we are all God’s scholars till we die."
- "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[…]."
Etymology
From Middle French ferule (modern French férule), from Latin ferula (“giant fennel”). Doublet of ferula.