Forms: 5 vyrell, 7–8 verrel, -il(l, 7–9 ferrel, -il, (7 ferrell), 8–9 ferule, 8– ferrule. [transformed (as if dim. of L. ferrum) from the older verrel, verril, vyrelle, ad. OF. virelle, virol (Fr. virole), med.L. virola:—L. viriola, dim. of viriæ, pl. bracelets.]
1. A ring or cap of metal put round the end of a stick, tube, etc. to strengthen it, or prevent splitting and wearing.
1611. Cotgr., Cartibes d’vn moulinet, the ferrels, or bands of yron whereby the ends of a windlesse are strengthened.
1685. Lond. Gaz., No. 2054/4. A Joynt Cane, wrought with a Gold Head on it, and a Brass Ferril.
1709. F. Hauksbee, Phys.-Mech. Exp., v. (1719), 104. I took a fine Glass Tube…. The upper Orifice had a Ferrel, soder’d to a Screw cemented on it.
1715. Kersey, Verrel or Verril, a little Brass or Iron ring, at the small end of a Cane, or Handle of a Tool, etc.
1794. W. Felton, Carriages, I. 230. The drag-staff is fixed nearer the hind part of the carriage, with jointed iron-work, and is made of strong ash, with iron-ferrels on the ends.
1820. L. Hunt, Indicator, No. 33 (1822), I. 257. Instead of the brass ferrel poking in the mud, the tip was growing into the air with it’s youngest green.
1838. Dickens, Nich. Nick., xxv. Producing a fat green cotton one [umbrella] with a battered ferrule.
1844. Regul. & Ord. Army, 10. The Lance of the Standards and Guidons to be nine feet long (spear and ferrel included). [So in 1860; the word is not used in recent editions.]
attrib. 1799. Spirit Pub. Journals (1800), III. 209. Such gentlemen as carry small canes, ought to put them in an horizontal position, under the right arm, taking especial care that the ferule end, which must be carried behind them, be sufficiently dirty.
2. A ring or band, usually either giving additional strength or holding the parts of anything together.
1632. Sherwood, Verrill, or iron band for a woodden toole, virole.
1708. Brit. Apollo, No. 117. 4/2. Dropt … a Cane … with a Silver Ferril.
1716. Desaguliers, in Phil. Trans., XXXIV. 79. I fix’d a Leaden Pipe … of 2 Inches in the Bore, by means of 3 Ferrels, or short Communication-Pipes.
1730. Savery, ibid., XXXVI. 298. The Glass Concave was fixed in the great End of a thin Brass Ferule.
1773. Ibid., LXIII. 418. I cover this part of the tube with a brass verrel.
1832. Babbage, Econ. Manuf., i. (ed. 3), 10. A glazier’s apprentice, when using a diamond set in a conical ferrule, as was always the practice about twenty years since, found great difficulty in acquiring the art of using it with certainty.
1855. Holden, Hum. Osteol. (1878), 37. A broad and thick ferule of cartilage.
1859. Gullick & Timbs, Paint., 296. Flat brushes, in German-silver ferules, are likewise employed.
1867. J. Hogg, Microsc., I. i. 7. To the lower part of the tube a handle of ebony, about three inches in length, is attached by a brass ferrule and two screws.
3. (Steam-engine.) ‘A bushing for expanding the end of a flue’ (Webster).
4. The frame of a slate.
1847–78. in Halliwell.
5. Naut.
1823. Crabb, Technol. Dict., Ferrule (Mar.) a small iron hook fixed on the extremities of the yards, boom, &c.
