Link Centre Dictionary

sprinkle

UK/ˈspɹɪŋkəl/ US/ˈsprɪŋkʌl/ uncommon

verb

1.

distribute loosely

  • “He scattered gun powder under the wagon”
2.

cause (a liquid) to spatter about, especially with force

  • “She splashed the water around her”
Synonyms
3.

rain gently

  • “It has only sprinkled, but the roads are slick”
4.

scatter with liquid; wet lightly

  • “Sprinkle the lawn”

noun

1.

a light shower that falls in some locations and not others nearby

2.

the act of sprinkling or splashing water

  • “baptized with a sprinkling of holy water”
  • “a sparge of warm water over the malt”

Origin

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”).

Phrases

  • holy-water sprinkle

Related words

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.