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 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Dispersed p. pr. & vb. n. Dispersing. ] [ L. dispersus, p. p. of dispergere to strew, scatter. See Sparse. ] 1. To scatter abroad; to drive to different parts; to distribute; to diffuse; to spread; as, the Jews are dispersed among all nations. [ 1913 Webster ]

The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. Prov. xv. 7. [ 1913 Webster ]

Two lions, in the still, dark night,
A herd of beeves disperse. Cowper. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To scatter, so as to cause to vanish; to dissipate; as, to disperse vapors. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dispersed are the glories. Shak.

Syn. -- To scatter; dissipate; dispel; spread; diffuse; distribute; deal out; disseminate. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. 1. To separate; to go or move into different parts; to vanish; as, the company dispersed at ten o'clock; the clouds disperse. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To distribute wealth; to share one's abundance with others. [ 1913 Webster ]

He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor. Ps. cxii. 9. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Scattered. -- Dis*pers"ed*ly adv. -- Dis*pers"ed*ness, n. [ 1913 Webster ]

Dispersed harmony (Mus.), harmony in which the tones composing the chord are widely separated, as by an octave or more. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Dispersedness. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One that disperses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Med.) Morbid or excessive secretion, as in catarrh. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Hyperæsthesia. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not persevering; fickle; thoughtless. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Not dispersed. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ L. inspersus, p. p. of inspergere to sprinkle upon; pref. in- in, on + spargere to sprinkle. ] To sprinkle; to scatter. [ Obs. ] Bailey. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Interspersed p. pr. & vb. n. Interspersing. ] [ L. interspersus interspersed; inter between, among + spargere to scatter. See Sparse. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

1. To scatter or set here and there among other things; to insert at intervals; as, to intersperse pictures in a book. [ 1913 Webster ]

There, interspersed in lawns and op'ning glades,
Thin trees arise that shun each other's shades. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To diversify or adorn with things set or scattered at intervals; to place something at intervals in or among; as, to intersperse a book with pictures. [ 1913 Webster ]

Which space is interspersed with small islands and rock. Cook. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Persicot. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Persecuted p. pr. & vb. n. Persecuting. ] [ F. persécueter, L. persequi, persecutus, to pursue, prosecute; per + sequi to follow, pursue. See Per-, and Second. ] 1. To pursue in a manner to injure, grieve, or afflict; to beset with cruelty or malignity; to harass; especially, to afflict, harass, punish, or put to death, for adherence to a particular religious creed or mode of worship. [ 1913 Webster ]

Do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you. Matt. v. 44. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To harass with importunity; to pursue with persistent solicitations; to annoy. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To oppress; harass; distress; worry; annoy. [ 1913 Webster ]

adj. Same as oppressed.
Syn. -- downtrodden, oppressed. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. [ F. persécution, L. persecutio. ] 1. The act or practice of persecuting; especially, the infliction of loss, pain, or death for adherence to a particular creed or mode of worship. [ 1913 Webster ]

Persecution produces no sincere conviction. Paley. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. The state or condition of being persecuted. Locke. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A carrying on; prosecution. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L.: cf. F. persécuteur. ] One who persecutes, or harasses. Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ L. ] A woman who persecutes. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ From Perseus. ] (Astron.) One of a group of shooting stars which appear yearly about the 10th of August, and cross the heavens in paths apparently radiating from the constellation Perseus. They are probably fragments of Swift's comet of 1862 (III). [ 1913 Webster + Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

prop. n. [ L., from Gr. Persey`s. ] 1. (Class. Myth.) A Grecian legendary hero, son of Jupiter and Danaë, who slew the Gorgon Medusa. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Astron.) A consellation of the northern hemisphere, near Taurus and Cassiopea. It contains a star cluster visible to the naked eye as a nebula. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. To persevere. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ F. persévérance, L. perseverantia. ] 1. The act of persevering; persistence in anything undertaken; continued pursuit or prosecution of any business, or enterprise begun. “The king-becoming graces . . . perseverance, mercy, lowliness.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

Whose constant perseverance overcame
Whate'er his cruel malice could invent. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Discrimination. [ Obs. ] Sir J. Harrington. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Theol.) Continuance in a state of grace until it is succeeded by a state of glory; sometimes called final perseverance, and the perseverance of the saints. See Calvinism. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- Persistence; steadfastness; constancy; steadiness; pertinacity. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ L. perseverans, -antis, p. pr.: cf. F. persévérant. ] Persevering. [ R. ] “Perseverant faith.” Whitby. -- Per`se*ver"ant*ly, adv. [R.] [1913 Webster]

v. i. [ imp. & p. p. Persevered p. pr. & vb. n. Persevering. ] [ F. persévérer, L. perseverare, fr. perseverus very strict; per + severus strict, severe. See Per-, and Severe. ] To persist in any business or enterprise undertaken; to pursue steadily any project or course begun; to maintain a purpose in spite of counter influences, opposition, or discouragement; not to give or abandon what is undertaken. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thrice happy, if they know
Their happiness, and persevere upright. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Syn. -- To Persevere, Continue, Persist. The idea of not laying aside is common to these words. Continue is the generic term, denoting simply to do as one has done hitherto. To persevere is to continue in a given course in spite of discouragements, etc., from a desire to obtain our end. To persist is to continue from a determination of will not to give up. Persist is frequently used in a bad sense, implying obstinacy in pursuing an unworthy aim. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Characterized by perseverance; persistent. -- Per`se*ver"ing*ly, adv. [1913 Webster]

v. t. [ L. respersus, p. p. of respergere; pref. re- re- + spargere to srew, sprinkle. ] To sprinkle; to scatter. [ Obs. ] Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To disperse. [ Obs. ] Spenser. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Being above the world, or secular things. Bp. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Superseded p. pr. & vb. n. Superseding. ] [ L. supersedere, supersessum, to sit above, be superior to, forbear, omit; super above + sedere to sit: cf. F. superséder. See Sit, and cf. Surcease. ] 1. To come, or be placed, in the room of; to replace. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. To displace, or set aside, and put another in place of; as, to supersede an officer. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. To make void, inefficacious, or useless, by superior power, or by coming in the place of; to set aside; to render unnecessary; to suspend; to stay. [ 1913 Webster ]

Nothing is supposed that can supersede the known laws of natural motion. Bentley. [ 1913 Webster ]

4. (Old Law) To omit; to forbear. [ 1913 Webster ]

‖n. [ L., suspend, set aside, stay, 2d pers. sing. present subjunctive of supersedere. See Supersede. ] (Law) A writ of command to suspend the powers of an officer in certain cases, or to stay proceedings under another writ. Blackstone. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The act of superseding, or setting aside; supersession; as, the supersedure of trial by jury. A. Hamilton. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. t. To sow, as seed, over something previously sown. [ Obs. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

That can not be done with joy, when it shall be indifferent to any man to superseminate what he please. Jer. Taylor. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The sowing of seed over seed previously sown. [ Obs. ] Abp. Bramhall. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. [ Pref. super- + sensible: cf. F. supersensible. ] Beyond the reach of the senses; above the natural powers of perception. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Excessively sensitive; morbidly sensitive. -- Su`per*sen"si*tive*ness, n. [1913 Webster]

a. Supersensible. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. 1. Supersensible. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Excessively sensuous. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Overofficious; doing more than is required or desired. “A superserviceable, finical rogue.” Shak. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ Cf. OF. supersession. See Supersede. ] The act of superseding, or the state of being superseded; supersedure. [ 1913 Webster ]

The general law of diminishing return from land would have undergone, to that extent, a temporary supersession. J. S. Mill. [ 1913 Webster ]