Dictionary: AS'PER-A-TED – AS'PI-RA-TED

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AS'PER-A-TED, pp.

Made rough or uneven.

AS-PE-RATION, n.

A making rough.

AS-PER-I-FO'LI-ATE, a. [L. asper, rough, and folium, a leaf.]

Having rough leaves. Plants of this kind are, by some authors, classified according to this character. They constitute the forty-first order of Linnæus's fragments of a natural method. In the methods of Hermann, Boerhaave, and Ray, this class consists of plants which have four naked seeds. Their leaves stand alternately on the stalks, and the flower monopetalous in five divisions. – Encyc. Milne.

AS-PER-I-FO'LI-OUS, a.

Having leaves rough to the touch. [See the preceding word.]

AS-PER'I-TY, a. [L. asperitas, from asper, rough.]

  1. Roughness of surface; unevenness; opposed to smoothness. – Boyle.
  2. Roughness of sound; that quality which grates the ear; harshness of pronunciation. Warton.
  3. Roughness to the taste; sourness.
  4. Roughness or ruggedness of temper; moroseness; sourness; crabbedness. – Rogers.
  5. Sharpness. – Berkeley.

AS'PER-OUS, a. [L. asper, rough.]

Rough; uneven. Boyle.

AS-PERSE, v.t. [aspers'; L. aspergo, aspersus, of ad and spargo, to scatter; Ar. فَرَجَ faraga, to split, divide, scatter. See Class Brg.]

  1. 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 character.
  2. To cast upon. – Heywood.

AS-PERS'ER, n.

One that asperses, or vilifies another.

AS-PER'SION, n.

  1. A sprinkling, as of water or dust, in a literal sense. – Shak.
  2. The spreading of calumnious reports or charges, which tarnish reputation, like the bespattering of a body with foul water. – Bp. Hall.

AS-PERS'O-RY, a.

Tending to asperse; defamatory.

AS-PHALT', or AS-PHALT'UM, n. [Gr. ασφαλτος.]

Bitumen Judaicum, Jew's pitch; a smooth, hard, brittle, black or brown substance, which breaks with a polish, melts easily when heated, and when pure, burns without leaving any ashes. It has little taste, and scarcely any smell, unless heated, when it emits a strong smell of pitch. It is found in a soft or liquid state on the surface of the Dead Sea, which, from this substance, is called Asphaltite, or the Asphaltic Lake. It is found also in the earth, in many parts of Asia, Europe and America. Formerly, it was used for embalming dead bodies; the solid asphalt is still employed in Arabia, Egypt and Persia, instead of pitch for ships; and the fluid asphalt is used for varnishing, and for burning in lamps. It is also used for pavement in streets. A species found in Neufchatel is found excellent as a cement for walls and pavements; very durable in air, and not penetrable by water. A composition of asphalt, lamp-black and oil, is used for drawing black figures on dial-plates. – Encyc. Nicholson.

AS-PHALT'IC, a.

Pertaining to asphalt, or containing it; bituminous. – Milton.

AS-PHALT'ITE, a.

Pertaining to or containing asphalt. – Bryant. Wilford.

AS'PHO-DEL, n. [L. and Gr. See Theoph. lib. 7. Plin. lib. 21, 17. Perhaps it is from the root of spud; Sw. spyd; Ire. spioot, a spear, from the shape of its leaves.]

King's-spear; a plant, cultivated for the beauty of its flowers. The ancients planted asphodels near graves, to supply the manes of the dead with nourishment. – Encyc. Johnson.

AS-PHU'RE-LATES, n. [Gr. α privative and σφυρα, a hammer; not malleable.]

A series of semimetallic fossils, fusible by fire, and in their purest state not malleable. In their native state, they are mixed with sulphur and other adventitious matter, in the form of ore. Under this denomination are classed bismuth, antimony, cobalt, zink, and quicksilver. – Coxe. Encyc.

AS-PHYXY, n. [Gr. ασφυξια, of α privative and σφυξις, pulse.]

A temporary suspension of the motion of the heart and arteries; swooning; fainting. – Coxe.

ASPIC, n.

  1. The asp; which see.
  2. A piece of ordnance carrying a twelve pound shot.

ASP'IC, n.

A plant growing in France, a species of lavender, which it resembles in the blue color of its flowers, and in the figure and green color of its leaves. It is called male-lavender, spica nardi, and pseudo-nardus. The oil of this plant is used by painters, farriers and other artificers. It is very inflammable, of a white color, and aromatic; and it is almost the only dissolvent of sandarac. – Nicholson. Fourcroy.

AS-PIR'ANT, a.

  1. Aspiring.
  2. n. One who aspires.

AS-PI'RANT, n. [See Aspire.]

One who aspires, breathes after, or seeks with eagerness. – Faber.

AS'PI-RATE, a.

Pronounced with a full breath. – Holder.

AS'PI-RATE, n.

A letter marked with an asper, or note breathing; a mark of aspiration, as the Greek accent ' . – Bentley.

AS'PI-RATE, v.i.

To be uttered with a strong breathing; as, the letter h aspirates. – Dryden.

AS'PI-RATE, v.t. [L. aspiro, to breathe or blow; Gr. ασπαιρω, to palpitate; from spiro and σπαιρω; Ar. صَفَرَ safara, to hiss, or make a hissing by blowing on a wind instrument. See Spire, Spirit.]

To pronounce with a breathing or full emission of breath. We aspirate the words horse and house. – Dryden.

AS'PI-RA-TED, pp.

Uttered with a strong emission of breath.