asperge

• IPA^(key): /əˈspɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒ/
• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

From Latin aspergō (compare aspersion from the same verb).

asperge (third-person singular simple present asperges, present participle asperging, simple past and past participle asperged)

1. (transitive) To sprinkle.
   • 1877, John David Chambers, Divine worship in England in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries contrasted and adapted to that of the nineteenth:

     First let him go up to the principal Altar and asperge it on every side.

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

asperge (plural asperges)

1. An aspergillum.

• preages, presage, sperage

• aspergie (obsolete)

Borrowed from Middle French asperge, from Medieval Latin asparagus, sparagus, from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos).

• IPA^(key): /ɑsˈpɛr.ʒə/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: as‧per‧ge
• Rhymes: -ɛrʒə

asperge f (plural asperges, diminutive aspergetje n)

1. asparagus, Asparagus officinalis (plant, vegetable)

• aspergesteker

• Afrikaans: aspersie
• → Papiamentu: asperge

• asperge on the Dutch Wikipedia.Wikipedia ^nl

Inherited from Latin asparagus, itself borrowed from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos).

• IPA^(key): /as.pɛʁʒ/

• Audio:

  (file)

asperge f (plural asperges)

1. asparagus (any of various perennial plants of the genus Asparagus having leaflike stems, scalelike leaves, and small flowers)
2. asparagus (the young shoots of Asparagus officinalis eaten as a vegetable)
3. (informal) beanpole (tall, thin person)
   • 1926, Marcel Aymé, Brûlebois, Éditions Gallimard, chap. II, 1975 ed., p. 25

     — Tiens, disait-il à Charles, entre le rôti et la salade, ne me parle pas de tes asperges d’aujourd’hui, ça n’a ni cul, ni corsage. Quand j’étais jeune homme, ah! oui, il y avait du plaisir. Tu pouvais mettre les mains, tu tenais quelque chose.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

   Synonym: échalas

• “asperge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé , 2012.

• présage

• IPA^(key): /aˈspɛr.d͡ʒe/
• Rhymes: -ɛrdʒe
• Hyphenation: a‧spèr‧ge

asperge

1. third-person singular present indicative of aspergere

• esparge

asperge

1. second-person singular present active imperative of aspergō