different between sprinkle vs drench

English

Etymology

From Middle English sprynklen, sprenkelen, equivalent to sprink +? -le (frequentative suffix). Cognate with Dutch sprenkelen (“to sprinkle”), German Low German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle; dapple”), German sprenkeln (“to sprinkle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?sp???k?l/
• Rhymes: -??k?l

Verb

sprinkle (third-person singular simple present sprinkles, present participle sprinkling, simple past and past participle sprinkled)

1. (transitive) To cause (a substance) to fall in fine drops (for a liquid substance) or small pieces (for a solid substance).

   • And the priest shall […] sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord.

   • At twilight in the summer […] the mice come out. They […] eat the luncheon crumbs. Mr. Checkly, for instance, always brought his dinner in a paper parcel in his coat-tail pocket, and ate it when so disposed, sprinkling crumbs lavishly […] on the floor.

2. (transitive) To cover (an object) by sprinkling a substance on to it.
3. (intransitive) To drip in fine drops, sometimes sporadically.

4. (intransitive) To rain very lightly outside.

5. (transitive) To baptize by the application of a few drops, or a small quantity, of water; hence, to cleanse; to purify.

   • having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience

Quotations

• 1893, Edward F. Bigelow (editor and publisher), The Observer: a Medium of Interchange of Observations for all Students and Lovers of Nature, volume IV, number 4, page 114:

  There is no more beautiful object in the still and shady aisles of the wood than a great patch of the deep green hairy cap moss studded and starred by these little roses that are often scattered over it as thickly as the stars sprinkle the sky.

• April 26th, 1899, Memorial Day Oration of General P. McGlashan, printed in 1902 in Addresses delivered before the Confederate Veterans Association of Savannah by that association:

  As I laid him back on the litter he threw out his arms and clasped me around my neck, drew me towards him and kissed me, saying: "Colonel, I love you." [...] Unnumbered instances like this might be recounted did the time permit it. They sprinkle the whole four years as the stars sprinkle the sky.

• 2010, Donald E. MacKay, Love Is Stronger Than Death, page 91:

  [...] she will remember his words and gaze at the stars. One dark night when the stars sprinkle the heavens, she would call out to the stars and ask the same questions her benefactor had asked; perhaps she will be favored with answers.

Derived terms

• besprinkle
• sprinkler

Translations

Noun

sprinkle (plural sprinkles)

1. A light covering with a sprinkled substance.

2. A light rain shower.
3. An aspersorium or utensil for sprinkling.

Synonyms

• (light covering with a sprinkled substance): sprinkling

Derived terms

• sugar sprinkles

Translations

Anagrams

• plinkers, prinkles, splinker

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English drenchen, from Old English dren?an, from Proto-Germanic *drankijan? (compare Dutch drenken ‘to get a drink’, German tränken ‘to water, give a drink’), causative of *drinkan? (“to drink”). More at drink.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d??nt?/
• Rhymes: -?nt?

Noun

drench (plural drenches)

1. A draught administered to an animal.
2. (obsolete) A drink; a draught; specifically, a potion of medicine poured or forced down the throat; also, a potion that causes purging.

   • A drench of wine has with success been us'd,
     And through a horn the gen'rous juice infus'd,
     Which, timely taken, op'd his closing jaws,
     But, if too late, the patient's death did cause.

   • 1907, Mark Twain, Christian Science and the Book of Mrs. Eddy

     I took up the 'Christian Scientist' book and read half of it, then took a dipperful of drench and read the other half.

Translations

Verb

drench (third-person singular simple present drenches, present participle drenching, simple past and past participle drenched)

1. To soak, to make very wet.

   • Now dam the ditches and the floods restrain; / Their moisture has already drenched the plain.

2. To cause to drink; especially, to dose (e.g. a horse) with medicine by force.

Related terms

• drenched (adjective)
• drenching (noun)

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English dreng, from Old English dreng (“warrior, soldier”), from Proto-Germanic *drangijaz, cognate to Old Norse drengr.

Noun

drench (plural drenches)

1. (obsolete, Britain) A military vassal, mentioned in the Domesday Book.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Burrill to this entry?)