[a. F. virgule, or ad. L. virgula VIRGULA.]
1. A thin sloping or upright line (/, |) occurring in mediæval MSS. as a mark for the cæsura or as a punctuation-mark (frequently with the same value as the modern comma).
1837. Hallam, Hist. Lit., I. viii. § 26. In the manuscripts of Chaucer, the line is always broken by a cæsura in the middle, which is pointed out by a virgule.
1895. Hoffman, Beginnings of Writing, 111. According to Orozco y Berra these virgules or commas represent the verb to blow or to hum.
2. Clockmaking. (See quot.)
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 284. [A] Virgule … [is] an escapement having points of resemblance to the verge and to the horizontal.
