[(a. F. asperge-r) ad. L. asperg-ĕre, f. a- = ad- to, at + spargĕre to sprinkle.]

1

  1.  To sprinkle, besprinkle.

2

1547.  Boorde, Brev. Health, xlii. 21 b. A cockrel or a pullet … rosted, and with butter and veneger asperged.

3

1637.  Gillespie, Eng.-Pop. Cerem., III. i. 5. He who entering into a Church doth not asperge himselfe.

4

1875.  H. Kingsley, No. Seventeen, II. xvii. 205. Being asperged with holy water by a priest.

5

  † 2.  = ASPERSE. (Bailey, 1721.) Obs.

6