In 1511, leaders in Mecca believed coffee stimulated radical thinking and outlawed the drink. In 1524, the leaders overturned that order, and people could drink coffee again.
ASPERSE
defame, slander, smirch, asperse, denigrate, calumniate, smear, sully, besmirch
(verb) charge falsely or with malicious intent; attack the good name and reputation of someone; “The journalists have defamed me!”; “The article in the paper sullied my reputation”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology
Verb
asperse (third-person singular simple present asperses, present participle aspersing, simple past and past participle aspersed)
To sprinkle or scatter (liquid or dust).
To falsely or maliciously charge another; to slander.
Synonyms
• See also defame
Anagrams
• Parsees, pareses, preases, preasse, seprase, serapes
Source: Wiktionary
As*perse", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Aspersed; p. pr. & vb. n. Aspersing.] Etym: [L. aspersus, p. p. of aspergere to scatter, sprinkle; ad + spargere to strew. See Sparse.]
1. To sprinkle, as water or dust, upon anybody or anything, or to besprinkle any one with a liquid or with dust. Heywood.
2. 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 man's character. With blackest crimes aspersed. Cowper.
Syn.
– To slander; defame; detract from; calumniate; vilify.
– To Asperse, Defame, Slander, Calumniate. These words have in common the idea of falsely assailing the character of another. To asperse is figuratively to cast upon a character hitherto unsullied the imputation of blemishes or faults which render it offensive or loathsome. To defame is to detract from a man's honor and reputation by charges calculated to load him with infamy. Slander (etymologically the same as scandal) and calumniate, from the Latin, have in common the sense of circulating reports to a man's injury from unworthy or malicious motives. Men asperse their neighbors by malignant insinuations; they defame by advancing charges to blacken or sully their fair fame; they slander or calumniate by spreading injurious reports which are false, or by magnifying slight faults into serious errors or crimes.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
15 January 2025
BEAR
(verb) have rightfully; of rights, titles, and offices; “She bears the title of Duchess”; “He held the governorship for almost a decade”
Coffee Trivia
