Part 392

4. Moral roughness; roughness of manner; severity; crabbedness; harshness; -- opposed to mildness. "Asperity of character." Landor.

It is no very cynical asperity not to confess obligations where no benefit has been received. Johnson.

5. Sharpness; disagreeableness; difficulty.

The acclivities and asperities of duty. Barrow.

Syn. -- Acrimony; moroseness; crabbedness; harshness; sourness; tartness. See Acrimony.

A*sper"ma*tous (&?;), a. [Gr. 'a priv. + &?;, &?;, seed.] (Bot.) Aspermous.

A*sper"mous, a. [Gr. &?;; 'a priv. + &?; seed.] (Bot.) Destitute of seeds; aspermatous.

A*sperne" (&?;), v. t. [L. aspernari; a (ab) + spernari.] To spurn; to despise. [Obs.] Sir T. More.

As"per*ous (&?;), a. [See Asper, a.] Rough; uneven. Boyle.

As*perse" (&?;), 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.

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.

With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper.

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.

As*persed" (&?;), a. 1. (Her.) Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface. Cussans.

2. Bespattered; slandered; calumniated. Motley.

As*pers"er (&?;), n. One who asperses; especially, one who vilifies another.

As*per"sion (&?;), n. [L. aspersio, fr. aspergere: cf. F. aspersion.] 1. A sprinkling, as with water or dust, in a literal sense.

Behold an immersion, not and aspersion. Jer. Taylor.

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

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

Who would by base aspersions blot thy virtue. Dryden.

As*pers"ive (&?;), a. Tending to asperse; defamatory; slanderous. -- As*pers"ive*ly, adv.

||As`per`soir" (&?;), n. [F.] An aspergill.

||As`per*so"ri*um (&?;), n.; pl. Aspersoria (&?;). [LL. See Asperse.] 1. The stoup, basin, or other vessel for holy water in Roman Catholic churches.

2. A brush for sprinkling holy water; an aspergill.

{ As"phalt (&?;), As*phal"tum (&?;), } n. [Gr. &?;, of eastern origin: cf. F. asphalte.] 1. Mineral pitch, Jews' pitch, or compact native bitumen. It is brittle, of a black or brown color and high luster on a surface of fracture; it melts and burns when heated, leaving no residue. It occurs on the surface and shores of the Dead Sea, which is therefore called Asphaltites, or the Asphaltic Lake. It is found also in many parts of Asia, Europe, and America. See Bitumen.

2. A composition of bitumen, pitch, lime, and gravel, used for forming pavements, and as a water-proof cement for bridges, roofs, etc.; asphaltic cement. Artificial asphalt is prepared from coal tar, lime, sand, etc.

Asphalt stone, Asphalt rock, a limestone found impregnated with asphalt.