sferra

• IPA^(key): /ˈsfɛr.ra/
• Rhymes: -ɛrra
• Hyphenation: sfèr‧ra

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, deverbal from sferrare (“to unshoe (a horse)”) +‎ -a. Compare Neapolitan sferra and Sicilian sferra.

sferra f (plural sferre)

1. (farriery) exhausted horseshoe; the old horseshoe after it is removed from the hoof of a horse (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)

   Hypernym: ferro (“horseshoe”)

2. (by extension, archaic or regional) Various things which are old and worn out or with little value:
   1. old rusty knife or sword

      Hypernym: coltello (“knife”)

      • 17^th century, Silvio Fiorillo, “Scena Settima”, in La Lucilla costante:

        Ecco la vostra sferra vecchia, avetela con alcuno? Ditelo a me, che ne farò salciccie.

        Here's your old rusty sword. Are you mad with anyone? Tell me about it, and I'll make sausages of them.

      • c. 1685, Federigo Nomi, chapter XIII, in Il catorcio d'Anghiari‎, stanza XV:

        Ognun portava l’asta ed il polvese, ¶ E al fianco senza fodero la sferra, […]

        (please add an English translation of this quotation)

      • 1825–1827, Alessandro Manzoni, chapter XIII, in I promessi sposi‎, Milan: Vincenzo Ferrario:

        […] altri poi con pietre aguzze, con coltelli spuntati, con isferre, con chiodi, coll’ugne, se altro non vi era, scalcinavano e sgretolavano la muraglia […].

        Then other people with sharp stones, dull knives, rusty swords, nails , nails, if there wasn't anything else, kicked and crumbled the wall.

   2. rag (tattered piece of clothing)

      Synonyms: cencio, straccio

      • 1529, Pietro Aretino, “A messer Girolamo Agnelli”, in Il primo libro delle lettere:

        […] il signor loro gli pon la mano in su la spalla o gli dona una sferra de le sue cose vecchie.

        their master puts his hand on their shoulder or gifts them a rag from his old stuff.

   3. piece of junk (item of little value)

      Synonym: cianfrusaglia

   4. good-for-nothing (worthless man)

      Synonym: buono a nulla

3. (regional, fishing) dredge (iron frame attached to a fine net when fishing molluscs)

   Coordinate term: rullo

• sfèrra in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana
• sferra in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication
• “sfèrra”, in Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, volume 18 scho–sik, UTET, 1996, page 864a

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

sferra

1. inflection of sferrare:
   1. third-person singular present indicative
   2. second-person singular imperative

Borrowed from Italian sferrare.

• IPA^(key): /ˈsfɛr.ra/

sferra (imperfect jisferra, past participle sferrat, verbal noun sferrar)

1. to break loose

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, sferrà (“to unshoe (a horse); to unshackle (a prisoner)”) +‎ -a. For the semantic development, see Italian sferra.

sferra f (plural sferre)

1. old rusty knife, especially if without handle
2. (humorous, in the plural) fake large silver coins

• AIS: Sprach- und Sachatlas Italiens und der Südschweiz – map 980: “la lama del coltello” – on navigais-web.pd.istc.cnr.it
• Andreoli, Raffaele (1887) “sferra”, in Vocabolario napoletano-italiano (in Italian), page 646

From Vulgar Latin *exferra. By surface analysis, sfirrari (“to unshoe (a horse)”) +‎ -a. For clearer semantic evolution see Italian sferra, and compare Neapolitan sferra. Doublet of scerra.

sferra f (plural sferri)

1. (farriery) broken old exhausted horseshoe after it is taken from the hoof of the horse (Is there an English equivalent to this definition?)
2. a knife without handle, especially if old
   • c. 1786, Giovanni Meli, chapter I, in Don Chisciotti e Sanciu Panza, stanza 2:

     Nun vanta lu coraggiu, e l’arruganza, ¶ Nè vanta imprisi di la sua sfirricchia […].

     He doesn't boast of bravery or arrogance, nor about the feats of his small rusty knife.

3. a bolt that secures the hoe blade to the handle

• Traina, Antonino (1868) “sferra”, in Nuovo vocabolario Siciliano-Italiano [New Sicilian-Italian vocabulary] (in Italian), Liber Liber, published 2020, page 3823
• Pasqualino (c. 1790) “sferra”, in Vocabolario siciliano etimologico, italiano e latino (in Italian), volume 5, page 19