ferula

[Lat.=(1) an umbelliferous herb or shrub, having a stalk filled with a soft pith, in which fire was easily harbored; fennel-giant; (2) a rod or whip, because made of the stalks of (1); from ferio to strike, from the stalks being used as rods.] [FERULE.] *I. Ord. Lang.: A ferule; a rod. II. Technically *1. Antiq .: The scepter of the emperors of the Eastern Empire. 2. Bot .: A genus of umbelliferous plants, natives of the shores of the Mediterranean and Persia. They have tall stalks filled with soft pith, and deeply-divided leaves, the segments being frequently linear. They yield a kind of gum-resin, which is employed as a stimulant in medicine. F. communis , giant-fennel, is a tall perennial, a native of Southern Europe, the stem of which often attains a height of eight to ten feet, and a diameter of two to three inches, having finely-divided compound leaves and umbels of yellow flowers. The stems are full of white pith, which, when dry, ignites like tinder, and is used in Sicily and other parts as such. When once ignited, it burns very slowly, and without injury to the tube of the stem. It is used for preserving and carrying fire from place to place. F. dulce is a variety of F. communis , differing in having the radical leaf-stalk swollen, thick, and becoming united, thus forming a kind of tube, which is used extensively in France and Italy as a culinary vegetable, under the name of Firrocchio or Firricho. It may sometimes be met with in the vegetable 1812 markets of London. F. persica yields asafetida, and from F. oriental is and F. ting it an a a gum resin is procured, which very closely resembles, but is le powerful than, asafetida. fěr-u-lā-çě-ous, a . [Latin ferulaceus , from ferula ; Fr. férulacé .] Of or pertaining to canes or reeds; resembling ferula; having a stem like a reed or cane. *fer-u-lar, fer-u-ler, 8. [Latin ferula .] A ferule, a rod. *fer-u-lar-ỹ, a. [Eng. ferule ; -ary.] Pertaining to a rod. fer-üle (1), *fer'-u-la, s . [Lat. ferula =a rod; Fr. férule ; Ital. & Sp. ferula .] [FERULA.] A rod or cane used by a master to punish children in school; a piece of wood used for the same purpose. fer-üle (2), s. 1. A metallic cylinder or thimble placed around the handle of a knife or fork at the point of entrance of the tang of the blade to prevent the handle split ting. ""Will you have some of this?" said the fat boy, plunging into the pie up to the very ferules of the knife and fork."- Dickens : Pickwick , ch. liv. 2. The metallic thimble or shoe with which a walking stick or staff is shod, or any similar contrivance used to bind the end of a rod. ish with a ferule; to cane. fer-üle, v. t. [FERULE (1), s.] To beat or pun "I shoulde bee feruled for my faults."-Go on: Schoole of Abuse , p. 24.