besprinkle, v.
(bɪˈsprɪŋk(ə)l)
Also 5 besprengil, 6 by-, besprincle, -ckle, -ckel.
[ME. besprengil, *besprenkel, f. be- 1 and 4 + sprenkel, freq. of sprengen to asperse; besprinkle is therefore in form the freq. of bespreng.]
Hence beˈsprinkled ppl. a.
1. trans. To sprinkle all over with small drops (of liquid), or with powdery substance, as flour, salt.
| c 1440 Gesta Rom. (1879) 26 That was all besprengild with his blessyd blode. 1534 More On the Passion Wks. 1295/2 They shoulde bysprincle the postes..with the bloud. 1622 R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 58 To keepe cleane the shippe; to besprinkle her ordinarily with vineger. 1781 Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lii. 273 The walls were besprinkled with holy water. 1835 Paul Antiq. Greece i. ii. iv. §8 [He] was also thrice besprinkled with water. |
b. predicated of the fluid.
| 1738 Glover Leonidas v. 657 The gory drops besprinkle all his shield. 1872 Spurgeon Treas. Dav. Ps. lxvi. 14 Scarce a drop of rain would venture to besprinkle their splendour. |
2. fig. To strew with (comparatively) small things scattered about; to spot, to dot; to intersperse with any elements diffused throughout.
| 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 258 All our good workes are continually besprinckled with many filthy spottes. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. viii. (1686) 22 [He] hath besprinkled his work with many fabulosities. 1670 Eachard Cont. Clergy 40 Besprinkling all their sermons with plenty of Greek and Latin. 1842 Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 54/1 Sloping banks besprinkled with pleasant villas. 1861 Lady Wallace Mendelssohn's Lett. 303 We..besprinkled each other mutually with great praise. |
† 3. transf. To water, moisten (as streams). Obs.
| 1611 Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xxx. (1614) 39/1 Vallies besprinkled with many sweet springs. 1623 Favine Theat. Hon. ii. xiii. 202 A million of Riuers that water and besprinkle France. |