[a. Fr. aspre, or ad. It. aspero, ad. Byzantine Gr. ἄσπρον lit. ‘white-money,’ f. ἄσπρος, -ον white (said to be ad. L. asper rough: see Littré).] A small silver Turkish coin, of which 120 are reckoned equal to the piastre; now only a ‘money of account.’
1589. T. Sanders, in Arb., Garner, II. 20. Five Aspers … which are but two-pence English.
1622. Fletcher, Sp. Curate, III. iii. One … That would run on men’s errands for an asper.
1781. Gibbon, Decl. & F., III. lxviii. 733. His poverty was alleviated by a pension of 50,000 aspers.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xv. II. 269. ‘I relieve not with one asper those who beg for alms upon the highway.’
