holy-water sprinkle
nounEtymology
PIE word *kéh₂ilos From Late Middle English haly water spryngelle (“sprinkler for holy water”), from haly water, hōlī water (“water consecrated for use in religious ceremonies”) + sprenkil, springel, spryngelle (“sprinkler for holy water”). By surface analysis, holy water + sprinkle. Noun sense 2 (“weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff”) is from its resemblance to the aspergillum, and apparently from the fact that it scattered blood when it came into contact with a person.
Definitions
Synonym of aspergillum (“an implement, in the form of a brush or of a rod with a…
Synonym of aspergillum (“an implement, in the form of a brush or of a rod with a perforated container, for sprinkling holy water”).
- She alvvay ſmyld, and in her hand did hold / An holy vvater Sprinckle, dipt in deovve, / VVith vvhich ſhe ſprinckled fauours manifold, / On vvhom ſhe liſt, and did great liking ſheovve, […]
A 16th-century weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a…
A 16th-century weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff, used mainly in England; a morning star.
- The horse-chestnuts showed the little green knobs which would soon enlarge and hang all prickly, like the spiked balls of a holy-water sprinkle, such as was once used in the wars.
The neighborhood
Vish — recursive loop
No curated loop yet for holy-water sprinkle. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.
sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA