Antiq. and Her. Also 5 fermayll(e, 6 fermaulx, 7 fermaile, -ale, -ault. [a. OF. fermaille a clasp:—med.L. firmāculum, f. firmāre to fix.] A buckle or clasp; a setting.
1480. Caxton, Ovid’s Met., X. iv. A fermayll of gemes plesaunt. Ibid. (1483), G. de la Tour, Miij. To wynne suche ouches or fermaylles.
1572. Bossewell, Armorie, II. 38 b. One fermaulx lozengie, Gules.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, IV. xv. (1660), 344. He beareth … on a chief … as many fermailes or buckles.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 304/2. Buckles are called Fermales or Fremaults, but more generally in the Plural Number Fermaulres.
1865. Athenæum, No. 1954. 494/2. A Charact Fermail of the fourteenth century, which would appear to have been used as an amulet against St. Vitus’s Dance.
1877. Ll. Jewitt, Half-hrs. Eng. Antiq., 126. A circular object … intended for a mirror, or for a circular brooch or fermail.
