† ˈsperage Obs.
Also 7 spirage, sperrage, 8 spearage.
[a. OF. sperage, var. of sparage sparage.]
Asparagus.
| c 1440 Pallad. on Husb. iii. 558 Sperages seed..Is good to sowe hem with,..For cannes & sperage haue oon tylynge. 1545 Elyot, Asparagus, an herbe callyd of common Apotecaries Sparagus, in englishe Sperage. 1577 B. Googe tr. Heresbach's Husb. 19 Sperage and such like, must be sowen in shaddowy places. 1620 Venner Via Recta vii. 150 Asparagus or Sperage is hot in the beginning of the first degree. 1688 Holme Armoury ii. 99/2 Asparagus or Sperage... The Flowers are yellow, consisting of six leaves. 1731 Miller Gard. Dict., Asparagus,..Sparagus or Sperage. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. App. 327 Spearage, see Asparagus. |
| attrib. 1611 Cotgr., Pois à visage,.. Sperage Beanes, French Beanes,..Kidney Beanes. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 77 Thy patrone's fish, Deck'd round with sperage-buds. |
b. With distinguishing
adjs.| 1545 Elyot, Corruda, an herbe called wylde sperage. 1548 Turner Names Herbes (E.D.S.) 17 It maye be called in englishe pricky Sperage, because it is all full of pryckes. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 122 The stalke is smooth, and resembleth garden Sperage. a 1661 B. Holyday Juvenal 214 Wild sperage too We'll have; my plow-man's wife her spindle threw Aside, to gather it. 1758 Borlase Nat. Hist. Cornw. 233 Marsh-asparagus or sperage, Asparagus palustris. |