asperge

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

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 (plant, vegetable)

• aspergesteker

• Afrikaans: aspersie
• → Papiamentu: asperge

From Latin asparagus, from Ancient Greek ἀσπάραγος (aspáragos).

• IPA^(key): /as.pɛʁʒ/

• audio

  (file)

asperge f (plural asperges)

1. asparagus (plant, vegetable)
2. (informal) a tall, thin person; a beanpole
   • 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.

   Synonym: échalas

• “asperge”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 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