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To disperse. [Obs.] Spenser.

harges; 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.

Having an indefinite number of small charges scattered or strewed over the surface. Cussans.

One who asperses; especially, one who vilifies another.

ad; to drive to different parts; to distribute; to diffuse; to spread; as, the Jews are dispersed among all nations. The lips of the wise disperse knowledge. Prov. xv. 7. Two lions, in the still, dark night, A herd of beeves disperse. Cowper.

Scattered. -- Dis*pers"ed*ly, adv. -- Dis*pers"ed*ness, n. Dispersed harmony (Mus.), harmony in which the tones composing the chord are widely separated, as by an octave or more.

Dispersedness. [Obs.]

One that disperses.

Not dispersed. [R.]

To sprinkle; to scatter. [Obs.] Bailey.

To scatter or set here and there among other things; to insert at intervals; as, to intersperse pictures in a book. There, interspersed in lawns and op'ning glades, Thin trees arise that shun each other's shades. Pope.

To sprinkle; to scatter. [Obs.] Jer. Taylor.

jurisdiction in different places. The priesthood . . . before was very ambulatory, and dispersed into all families. Jer. Taylor.

To impeach; to accuse; to asperse; to inform against; to reproach. [Obs.] And oft of error did himself appeach. Spenser.

Hence: Any sea or broad sheet of water interspersed with many islands or with a group of islands.

Tending to asperse; defamatory; slanderous. -- As*pers"ive*ly, adv.

bear off the impression from a blank page; also, a type or type-high piece of metal interspersed in blank parts to support the plate when it is shaved.

To asperse with calumny or reproach. Whom never faction could bespatter. Swift.

To spurt on or over; to asperse. [Obs.] Milton.

ehearse. Hakluyt. The same little breviates of infidelity have . . . been published and dispersed with great activity. Bp. Porteus.