holy-water sprinkle

Noun

holy-water sprinkle (plural holy-water sprinkles)

1. Synonym of aspergillum (“an implement, in the form of a brush or of a rod with a perforated container, for sprinkling holy water”).
   • All ſubſtantiues endyng in on, hauyng i cõmyng next before on, be of tbe femyne gendre: Excepte Millyón a myllion⸝ eſcorpión a ſcorpyon a ſarpent⸝ ueſpilión a holy water ſpricle^([sic])⸝ eſtovrgión a ſturgion fiſhe⸝ psalterión a psaltrion […][1530 July 28 (Gregorian calendar), Iohan Palsgraue [i.e., John Palsgrave], “To Know the Gendre of All Substantyues Endyng in N”, in Lesclarcissement de la langue francoyse⸝ […], [London]: […]...
   • […] I stode at the dore: Then sayd the Byshop go to your sermon. Then Doctour Chadseye put the stole a boute his necke, and caried the holy water sprinkle vnto the bishop, who blessed hym, and gaue hym holy water, and so he went to hys sermon.1555, Thomas Haukes [i.e., Thomas Hawkes], witness, “Here Foloweth the Examinations of Thomas Haukes, before Edmund Boner [Edmund Bonner], Byshop of London, Woorde for Woorde, as It was betwene the...

   Synonyms:

   holy water sprinkler, aspergillum

2. (broadly, historical) A 16th-century weapon consisting of a heavy ball set with spikes attached rigidly to a staff, used mainly in England; a morning star.
   • The weapons, called by Germans "Morgen-stern," and in old English Inventories "holy-water sprinkles," from a certain resemblance to the aspergillum used in churches, are comparatively rare in the armories of this country. […] In the Tower survey of 1547 they are often mentioned; e.g.—'Great holly...1547 (date written), “Proceedings at Meetings of the Royal Archeological Institute. November 1, 1867. [Antiquities and Works of Art Exhibited.]”, in The Archaeological Journal, volume XXV, London...
   • To sprinkle the holy water was the cant-phrase for fetching blood, which will account for the appellation, as there is no resemblance between the weapon so called and the aspergillum. Fig. 1.—A holy-water-sprinkle of the fifteenth century. It is a wooden mallet, bound with iron and furnished with...1854, Samuel Rush Meyrick, “Plate XCII. Holy-water Sprinkles, &c.”, in Engraved Illustrations of Antient Arms and Armour, from the Collection at Goodrich Court, Herefordshire; […], volume II, London...

   Synonyms:

   holy water sprinkler, morgenstern