| 释义 |
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.
c1440Gesta Rom. (1879) 26 That was all besprengild with his blessyd blode. 1534More On the Passion Wks. 1295/2 They shoulde bysprincle the postes..with the bloud. 1622R. Hawkins Voy. S. Sea (1847) 58 To keepe cleane the shippe; to besprinkle her ordinarily with vineger. 1781Gibbon Decl. & F. III. lii. 273 The walls were besprinkled with holy water. 1835Paul Antiq. Greece i. ii. iv. §8 [He] was also thrice besprinkled with water.
b. predicated of the fluid.
1738Glover Leonidas v. 657 The gory drops besprinkle all his shield. 1872Spurgeon 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.
1561T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iii. 258 All our good workes are continually besprinckled with many filthy spottes. 1646Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. viii. (1686) 22 [He] hath besprinkled his work with many fabulosities. 1670Eachard Cont. Clergy 40 Besprinkling all their sermons with plenty of Greek and Latin. 1842Dickens Amer. Notes (1850) 54/1 Sloping banks besprinkled with pleasant villas. 1861Lady Wallace Mendelssohn's Lett. 303 We..besprinkled each other mutually with great praise.
†3. transf. To water, moisten (as streams). Obs.
1611Speed Theat. Gt. Brit. xxx. (1614) 39/1 Vallies besprinkled with many sweet springs. 1623Favine Theat. Hon. ii. xiii. 202 A million of Riuers that water and besprinkle France. |