sprinkle

== English == === Etymology === From Middle English sprenkelen, sprynklen, from Middle Dutch sprenkelen, equivalent to sprink +‎ -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch sprenkelen (“to sprinkle”), German Low German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle; dapple”), German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle”). === Pronunciation === IPA(key): /ˈspɹɪŋkəl/ Rhymes: -ɪŋkəl === Verb === sprinkle (third-person singular simple present sprinkles, present participle sprinkling, simple past and past participle sprinkled) (transitive) To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance). (transitive) To cover (an object) by sprinkling a substance on to it. (intransitive) To drip in fine drops, sometimes sporadically. (intransitive) To rain very lightly outside. (transitive) To baptize by the application of a few drops, or a small quantity, of water; hence, to cleanse; to purify. This term needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text {{rfdef}}. ==== Quotations ==== 1893, Edward F. Bigelow (editor and publisher), The Observer: a Medium of Interchange of Observations for all Students and Lovers of Nature, volume IV, number 4, page 114: There is no more beautiful object in the still and shady aisles of the wood than a great patch of the deep green hairy cap moss studded and starred by these little roses that are often scattered over it as thickly as the stars sprinkle the sky. April 26th, 1899, Memorial Day Oration of General P. McGlashan, printed in 1902 in Addresses delivered before the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah by that association: As I laid him back on the litter he threw out his arms and clasped me around my neck, drew me towards him and kissed me, saying: "Colonel, I love you." [...] Unnumbered instances like this might be recounted did the time permit it. They sprinkle the whole four years as the stars sprinkle the sky. ==== Synonyms ==== ==== Derived terms ==== ==== Translations ==== === Noun === sprinkle (plural sprinkles) A light covering with a sprinkled substance. A light rain shower. An aspersorium or utensil for sprinkling. A small hard piece of sugar and starch, or chocolate, used to decorate cakes etc. Synonym: jimmy (dialectal) ==== Synonyms ==== (light covering with a sprinkled substance): sprinkling ==== Derived terms ==== holy-water sprinkle ==== Translations ==== === Anagrams === plinkers, prinkles, splinker