besprenge

English

Alternative forms

• bespreng

Etymology

From Middle English besprengen, from Old English besprenġan, equivalent to be- (“about; all over”) +‎ springe (“to sprinkle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɪˈspɹɛnd͡ʒ/

Verb

besprenge (third-person singular simple present besprenges, present participle besprenging, simple past and past participle besprent)

1. (obsolete except as past participle adjective) To sprinkle or scatter.
   • 1609, Ammianus Marcellinus, “[The XXIII. Booke.] Chapter II. Being Departed out of Antioch, He was Troubled and Haunted with Strange Signes and Dreames: But afterwards Comforted againe by Sundrie Presages, and the Arrivall of a Most Puissant Armadoe, He Proceedeth in His Intended Voyage.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Roman Historie, […], London: […] Adam Jslip, →OCLC, pages 220–221:

     [T]here vvas brought unto him an horſe named Babylonius, vvhich happening to be ſore vexed vvith a ſuddaine gripe or vvring in his belly, fell dovvne, and vvhiles hee vvas not able to endure the paine, vvallovveth along, and happeneth to beſprent his capariſon and ornaments richly garniſhed vvith gold and precious ſtones. At vvhich ſtrange ſight he tooke great joy, and cryed out, vvith the applauſe of thoſe next about him, That Babylon vvas fallen, and lay along on the ground diſpoyled of all her ornaments.

   • 1927, H.T. Lowe-Porter, translation of Thomas Mann, The Magic Mountain, Knopf 1946 [1927], p. 564:

     His placidity was fully restored by the appearance of the steaming dishes, with their burden of canary-yellow besprent with green, which dispersed a mild warm fragrance of eggs and butter upon the air.

   • 1973, Kyril Bonfiglioli, Don't Point That Thing at Me, Penguin, published 2001, page 78:

     his ample mush was pleated with fat, wormed with the great pox and so besprent with whelks, bubules and burst capillaries that it seemed like a contour map of the Trossachs.

Derived terms

• besprent

German

Pronunciation

• Audio:

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Verb

besprenge

1. Inflected form of besprengen