different between sprinkle vs torrent

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

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t??.?nt/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t??.?nt/
• (NYC) IPA^(key): /?t??.?nt/

Etymology 1

From French torrent, from Italian torrente, from Latin torrentem, accusative of torr?ns (“burning, seething, roaring”), from Latin torr?re (“to parch, scorch”).

Noun

torrent (plural torrents)

1. A violent flow, as of water, lava, etc.; a stream suddenly raised and running rapidly, as down a precipice.
2. (figuratively) A large amount or stream of something.
   • 1907, E.M. Forster, The Longest Journey, Part III, XXXI [Uniform ed., p. 278]:

     On the banks of the grey torrent of life, love is the only flower.

Derived terms

Related terms

• torrid
• toast

Translations

Adjective

torrent (comparative more torrent, superlative most torrent)

1. Rolling or rushing in a rapid stream.

See also

• barrage
• inundate
• deluge
• torrential

Etymology 2

From BitTorrent and the file extension it uses for metadata (.torrent).

Noun

torrent (plural torrents)

1. (Internet, file sharing) A set of files obtainable through a peer-to-peer network, especially BitTorrent.

Translations

Verb

torrent (third-person singular simple present torrents, present participle torrenting, simple past and past participle torrented)

1. (Internet slang, transitive) To download in a torrent.

Derived terms

• torrenter

Catalan

Noun

torrent m (plural torrents)

1. torrent

French

Etymology

From Italian torrente, from Latin torrens.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t?.???/

Noun

torrent m (plural torrents)

1. A torrent

Descendants

• ? English: torrent
• ? Romanian: torent

Further reading

• “torrent” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Latin

Verb

torrent

1. third-person plural present active indicative of torre?

Welsh

Alternative forms

• torren (colloquial)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?t?r?nt/

Verb

torrent

1. (literary) third-person plural imperfect/conditional of torri
2. (literary) third-person plural imperative of torri

Mutation