A bundle of rods or twigs used as an instrument of punishment; a birch. Obsolete. (Latin fascis.)

A stick or rod used as an instrument for administering strokes by way of punishment or otherwise. Obsolete.

A stick or bundle of twigs used as an instrument of punishment, esp. for a child. Cf. cane, n.1 4 birch, n. 2. to spare the rod and spoil the child…

A rod; also a bundle of twigs used in flogging, a ‘birch,’ a scourge.

= ferula, n. 2.

A stick, a whip.

A bunch of birch-twigs bound together to form an instrument for the flagellation of school-boys and of juvenile offenders; a birch-rod.

a rod consisting of twigs or the like (cf. whisk, v. 4).

spec. Short for lime-twig, n. (obsolete); also, in plural, the twigs forming a birch-rod.

transferred and figurative. humorously. The birch rod.

Something that tickles or is used for tickling. A birch or rod used in castigation; also, a single-stick.

That which (or one who) tickles the ‘tail’; see quots.

A rod, stick, or switch for chastisement; also figurative (in religious use) Obsolete. Also dialect a ‘rod’ or bundle of twigs for flogging.

a birch, rod, switch; also, the use of this.

= sense 2.