ferule

noun

No English definition recorded for this entry.

Pronunciation: /ˈfɛɹuːl/ / /ˈfɛɹəl/

Etymology: From Middle French ferule (modern French férule), from Latin ferula (“giant fennel”). Doublet of ferula.

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, […].”
“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.”

Etymology: From Middle French ferule (modern French férule), from Latin ferula (“giant fennel”). Doublet of ferula.

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[…].”