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To suck up; to drink in; to imbibe; as a sponge or as the lacteals of the body. Bacon.

Sparing in diet; refraining from a free use of food and strong drinks; temperate; abstinent; sparing in the indulgence of the appetite or passions. Instances of longevity are chiefly among the abstemious. Arbuthnot.

The quality of being abstemious, temperate, or sparing in the use of food and strong drinks. It expresses a greater degree of abstinence than temperance.

The practice of self-denial by depriving one's self of certain kinds of food or drink, especially of meat. Penance, fasts, and abstinence, To punish bodies for the soul's offense. Dryden.

r make impure by an admixture of a foreign or a baser substance; as, to adulterate food, drink, drugs, coin, etc. The present war has . . . adulterated our tongue with strange words. Spectator.

The act of adulterating; corruption, or debasement (esp. of food or drink) by foreign mixture. The shameless adulteration of the coin. Prescott.

on in life or time. A gentleman advanced in years, with a hard experience written in his wrinkles. Hawthorne. Advanced guard, a detachment of troops which precedes the march of the main body.

The act of pouring upon, or sprinkling with a liquid, as water upon a child in baptism. Specifically: (Med)

A taste which remains in the mouth after eating or drinking.

A strong alcoholic drink, especially pulque. [Mexico and Spanish America.]

bursement, a bounty, or as appropriate for any purpose; a stated quantity, as of food or drink; hence, a limited quantity of meat and drink, when provisions fall short. I can give the boy a handsome allowance. Thackeray.

The fabled food of the gods (as nectar was their drink), which conferred immortality upon those who partook of it.

To depress or discourage with fear; to impress with fear in such a manner that the mind shrinks, or loses its firmness; to overcome with sudden terror or horror; to dismay; as, the sight appalled the stoutest heart. The house of peers was somewhat appalled at this alarum. Clarendon.

Desire for, or relish of, food or drink; hunger. Men must have appetite before they will eat. Buckle.

To drench; to besprinkle; to moisten. [Obs.] The blissful dew of heaven does arrose you. Two N. Kins.

To strew or sprinkle with ashes. Howell.

The service or ceremony of sprinkling with holy water.

The brush used in the Roman Catholic church for sprinkling holy water on the people. [Also written aspergillus.]

To sprinkle, as water or dust, upon anybody or anything, or to besprinkle any one with a liquid or with dust. Heywood.

A sprinkling, as with water or dust, in a literal sense. Behold an immersion, not and aspersion. Jer. Taylor.