v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Aspersed p. pr. & vb. n. Aspersing. ] [ L. aspersus, p. p. of aspergere to scatter, sprinkle; ad + spargere to strew. See Sparse. ] 1. To sprinkle, as water or dust, upon anybody or anything, or to besprinkle any one with a liquid or with dust. Heywood. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To bespatter with foul reports or false and injurious charges; to tarnish in point of reputation or good name; to slander or calumniate; as, to asperse a poet or his writings; to asperse a man's character. [ 1913 Webster ]

With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To slander; defame; detract from; calumniate; vilify. -- To Asperse, Defame, Slander, Calumniate. These words have in common the idea of falsely assailing the character of another. To asperse is figuratively to cast upon a character hitherto unsullied the imputation of blemishes or faults which render it offensive or loathsome. To defame is to detract from a man's honor and reputation by charges calculated to load him with infamy. Slander (etymologically the same as scandal) and calumniate, from the Latin, have in common the sense of circulating reports to a man's injury from unworthy or malicious motives. Men asperse their neighbors by malignant insinuations; they defame by advancing charges to blacken or sully their fair fame; they slander or calumniate by spreading injurious reports which are false, or by magnifying slight faults into serious errors or crimes. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. (Her.) Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface. Cussans. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Bespattered; slandered; calumniated. Motley. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who asperses; especially, one who vilifies another. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. aspersio, fr. aspergere: cf. F. aspersion. ] 1. A sprinkling, as with water or dust, in a literal sense. [ 1913 Webster ]

Behold an immersion, not and aspersion. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The spreading of calumniations reports or charges which tarnish reputation, like the bespattering of a body with foul water; calumny. [ 1913 Webster ]

Every candid critic would be ashamed to cast wholesale aspersions on the entire body of professional teachers. Grote. [ 1913 Webster ]

Who would by base aspersions blot thy virtue. Dryden. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Tending to asperse; defamatory; slanderous. -- As*pers"ive*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

‖n. [ F. ] An aspergill. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n.; pl. Aspersoria [ LL. See Asperse. ] 1. The stoup, basin, or other vessel for holy water in Roman Catholic churches. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A brush for sprinkling holy water; an aspergill. [ 1913 Webster ]