asperse

Verb

asperse (third-person singular simple present asperses, present participle aspersing, simple past and past participle aspersed)

1. To sprinkle or scatter (liquid or dust).
   • a hand in San Marco's font / aspersed him with foul canal water2004, Derek Walcott, The Prodigal, Farrar, Straus, Giroux, page 102
2. To falsely or maliciously charge someone.
   • It hath always been my way to baffle reproach with silence; though I cannot but observe the disingenuous proceedings of this gentleman, who is not content to asperse my writings, but hath wounded, through my sides, those eminent and worthy citizens, Mr. John Morphew, and Mr. Bernard Lintot.1710 April 28 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [pseudonym; Joseph Addison; Richard Steele], “Monday, April 18, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 160; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The...
   • This is indeed a most aggravating Circumstance, which attends unjustly depriving Men of their Reputation; for a Man who is Conscious of having an ill Character, cannot justly be angry with those who neglect and slight him; but ought rather to despise those that affect his Conversation, unless where...1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Dublin: John Smith, Volume 2, Book 8, Chapter 8, pp. 126-127

   Synonyms:

   libel, slander, traduce, assassinate, backbite, badmouth, befoul, belibel, besmirch, besmear