asperse (aspers)

t.; pret. and pp. aspersed, ppr. aspersing. [ Asperse and sprinkle the attendants. as of or water. No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow. Shak ., Tempest, iv. 1. To season a surly discourse with a more pleasing asper sion of love matters. Burton, Anat. of Mel., p. 424. Ximenes, unable to administer the rite to each individ ually, was obliged to adopt the expedient familiar to the Christian mi ionaries, of christening them en ma e by aspersion; scattering the consecrated drops from a mop, or hy op, as it was called, which he twirled over the heads of the multitude. Pre scott, Ferd. and Isa., ii. 6. 2. The making of calumnious reports, imputations, or charges; a derogatory a ertion or criticism; calumny; censure. There, sir, an attack upon my language! what do you think of that? - an aspersion upon my parts of speech! Sheridan, The Rivals, iii. 3. Every candid critic would be ashamed to cast wholesale aspersions on the entire body of profe ional teachers. Grote, Hist. Greece, II. 67.