ferrule

Definition

A band or cap (usually metal) placed around a shaft to reinforce it or to prevent splitting.

Etymology

From Middle English verel, virel, virole (“ferrule; metal pivot on the end of an axle”), altered under the influence of Latin ferrum (“iron”), from Old French virole (“ferrule”), from Latin viriola (“little bracelet”), diminutive of viria (“bracelet worn by men”), from Gaulish, from Proto-Celtic *weiros (“crooked”) (compare Middle Irish fiar (“bent, crooked”), Welsh gŵyr, Breton gwar (“curved”)), from Proto-Indo-European *weyh₁ros (“threaded, turned, twisted”), from *weyh₁- (“to turn, twist, weave”).

Example Sentences

• "The cane was produced in court; it was as stout as an old-fashioned club, and of terrific weight. The man who wielded it must have been very powerful, for he had only dealt one blow, but that blow had cracked the old man's skull. The cane was undoubtedly of foreign make, for it had a solid silver ferrule at one end, which was not English hall-marked."
• "He walked on, waiting to be spoken to, trailing his ashplant by his side. Its ferrule followed lightly on the path, squealing at his heels."
• "'Butler! Send my rickshaw round to the front at once! To the station, jaldi!' she added as the rickshaw-man appeared, and, having settled herself in the rickshaw, poked him in the back with the ferrule of her umbrella to start him."