▪ I. asp1
(ɑːsp, æ-)
Forms: 1 æspæ, æspe, æps, 1–6 espe, 4–7 aspe, 6 esp, 6– asp.
[Common Teut.: with OE. æspæ, æspe, cf. OHG. aspâ, mod.G. espe, OTeut. *aspôn, weak fem. With OE. æps = æsp, cf. ON. ösp (= aspu), OTeut. *aspâ, strong fem. See also aspen.]
1. A tree of the poplar family (Populus tremula), with greyish bark and spreading branches, the leaves of which are specially liable to the tremulous motion that characterizes all the poplars. Sometimes loosely used of other poplars.
| c 700 Epinal Gloss. 1006 Tremulus aespae, Erfurt espe..Corpus 2048 aespe. c 1000 ælfric Gloss. (Zup.) 312 Abies, æps. c 1000 Gloss. in Earle Plant-n. 21 Tremulos, æspe. c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2645 And quok as dooth the leefe of aspe [v.r. espe, aspis, aspes] grene. 1578 Lyte Dodoens 749 The Popler is of three sortes..white..blacke, and the thirde is called Aspe. 1626 Bacon New Atl. (1650) 27 An Ivy somewhat whiter then ours, like the leafe of a Silver Aspe. 1794 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxix. 457 Trembling Poplar, or Asp, has leaves..smooth on both sides. 1848 G. Ruxton in Blackw. Mag. LXIII. 713 Cherry and quaking asp..belted the little brook. |
b. attrib.
| a 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 332 Nim æps-rinde. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 64 Populus is of two kyndes, the fyrste..whyte Popler or white Esptree. The seconde..an Asp tree, or a blacke popler. 1616 Surflet & Markh. Countr. Farm 660 The white Poplar, otherwise called the Aspe tree. 1755 B. Stillingfl. Cal. Flora in Misc. Tracts (1762) 261 Dec. 23 Asp flower buds begin to open. |
2. The wood of this tree.
| 1551 Turner Herbal (1568) 66 Flechers make prykke shaftes of byrche because it is heuier than espe is. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. ii. i. 54 He commends sound ash for military arrows, and preferred it to asp. |
▪ II. asp2 Zool.
(ɑːsp, æ-)
[ad. L. aspis, a. Gr. ἀσπίς. The L. form was also formerly in use, and was occas. treated as Eng. with pl. aspisses. Cf. OF. aspe, and see also aspic1, aspide.]
1. A small, venomous, hooded serpent, found in Egypt and Libya; the Naja Haje.
| 1340 Ayenb. 257 An eddre þet is yhote ine latin aspis. 1382 Wyclif Rom. iii. 13 The venym of eddris, that ben clepid aspis, vndur her lippis. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. vi. 78 A beest named Aspis that may not be..taken but by charmyng. 1526 Tindale Rom. iii. 13 The poyson of Aspes. 1593 Nashe Christes Teares (1613) 148 At thy breasts (as at Cleopatras) Aspisses shal be put out to nurse. 1627 May Lucan ix. 806 Rose the sleep-causing Aspe with swelling head. 1781 Cowper Truth 159 Of temper as envenomed as an asp. 1869 Ruskin Q. of Air §68 There is more poison in an ill-kept drain..than in the deadliest asp of Nile. |
2. Also applied to a species of Viper (Vipera Aspis) found in various parts of Europe, and used poet. of any venomous serpent.
| 1712 Swift Sid Hamet Wks. 1755 III. ii. 71 Till metamorphosed by his grasp, It grew an all-devouring asp. 1818 Byron Ch. Har. iv. clx, The enormous asp Enforces pang on pang, and stifles gasp on gasp. 1861 Hulme tr. Moquin-Tandon ii. v. i. 248 The Common Viper or Asp is a serpent to be carefully avoided. |
3. Comb. and attrib., as in aspworm (obs.) = asp.
| 1587 Golding De Mornay xii. (1617) 191 We know the Aspworme by his stinging of vs. 1876 Birch Rede Lect. Egypt 39 Invested with the asp diadem of the crown. |
▪ III. asp3
See ass n.1 4.