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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. Any of several venomous snakes of Africa, Asia, and Europe, such as the small cobra (Naja haje) or the horned viper (Cerastes cornutus).

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A European tree of the poplar family, Populus tremula. In America a similar species, P. tremuloides, is known as the quaking asp, or aspen. The white poplar, P. alba, is also sometimes called the white asp. The form aspen is also common.
  2. n. A very venomous serpent of Egypt, celebrated in connection with the story of Cleopatra's suicide. It is identified with greatest probability with the horned viper, of the genus Cerastes, a snake about 15 inches long. The name has also been commonly applied to the Naja haje, a species attaining a length of 3 or 4 feet, related to and resembling the Indian cobra, Naja tripudians. It is of a mottled green and brown color, with the skin of the neck dilatable, though less so than that of the true cobra. This serpent is of frequent occurrence along the Nile, and is the sacred serpent of ancient Egypt, represented commonly in art as a part of the headdress of kings and divinities, and often connected with their emblems, as a symbol of royal power. In archæology it is usually known as the uræus.
  3. n. The common viper or adder of Europe, a feebly poisonous serpent, formerly named Vipera communis, now Pelias berus, of the family Viperidæ. See cut under adder.
  4. n. A name of sundry other poisonous serpents.
  5. n. Aspic and aspick are obsolete or poetic forms.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A water snake.
  2. n. A venomous viper native to southwestern Europe (Vipera aspis).
  3. n. The Egyptian cobra (Naja haje)
  4. n. A type of European fish (Aspius aspius).

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. Same as aspen.
  2. n. A small, hooded, poisonous serpent of Egypt and adjacent countries, whose bite is often fatal. It is the Naja haje. The name is also applied to other poisonous serpents, esp. to Vipera aspis of southern Europe. See haje.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. of southern Europe; similar to but smaller than the adder
  2. n. cobra used by the Pharaohs as a symbol of their power over life and death

Etymologies

  1. Middle English aspis, from Latin, from Greek.

Examples

  • “The bark of what we call asp-wood, ma'am, which is a kind of sallow; they lay up great quantities of it in the autumn as a provision for winter, when they are frozen up for some months.”

    The Settlers in Canada

  • “I quickly started building my site and actually made it somewhat functional although most pages where in asp, others in asp. net.”

    How I started A Dating Empire « The Paradigm Shift

  • “The missing cobra is an adolescent of its hooded species, which is believed to be the type of snake that was called an asp in antiquity.”

    Boston.com Top Stories

  • “When Marcus says “No caching functionality in asp. net is used” he probably means that content caching is not involved.”

    ASP.net and IIS 2 million pageviews per hour « The Paradigm Shift

  • “The asp is a serpent who blocks his or her ears to avoid being enchanted by music.”

    Archive 2008-03-01

  • “The Egyptian ichneumon, when it sees the serpent called the asp, does not attack it until it has called in other ichneumons to help; to meet the blows and bites of their enemy the assailants beplaster themselves with mud, by first soaking in the river and then rolling on the ground.”

    The History of Animals

  • “The asp is the largest and most beautiful of all; but that never, of its own accord, quits the”

    The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens

  • “It stuck in his ribs, and in scorn of the writer, and sceptical of her penning it, he tugged to pull it out, and broke the shaft, but left the rankling arrow-head: -- she had traced the lines, and though tyranny racked her to do that thing, his agony followed her hand over the paper to her name, which fixed and bit in him like the deadly-toothed arrow-head called asp, and there was no uprooting it.”

    The Tragic Comedians — Complete

  • “It stuck in his ribs, and in scorn of the writer, and sceptical of her penning it, he tugged to pull it out, and broke the shaft, but left the rankling arrow-head: -- she had traced the lines, and though tyranny racked her to do that thing, his agony followed her hand over the paper to her name, which fixed and bit in him like the deadly - toothed arrow-head called asp, and there was no uprooting it.”

    The Tragic Comedians — Volume 2

  • “There is a kind of asp called ypnalis, because it kills you by sending you to sleep.”

    Archive 2008-03-01

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Lists

These user-created lists contain the word ‘asp’.

Comments

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  • nuxiy or the programming language developed by Microsoft Mar 26, 2009

  • ecbrenner Also, application service provider Mar 26, 2009

  • sionnach ASP: the asp has a strategy, to avoid enchantment by songs meant to lure it forth from its cavern, by pressing one ear to the ground and stopping the other with its tail. This same asp guards the tree from which balm drips, and if a man tries to steal the balm, he must first put the asp to sleep by means of instruments - that is, by music. Bruneta Latini says the asp carries a precious stone called the carbuncle which enchanters hope to obtain by saying certain words, but the asp deafens itself and defeats them; this stone is the dracontis or dragon stone described by Pliny and Solinus, which in two medieval lapidaries is identified with the carbuncle.

    There are many kinds of asps. The first is the dipsas, which is so small it is not seen when trodden upon, and its bite kills before it is felt; its bite causes men to die of thirst. The next is hypnalis, called the prialis, which is the serpent from which Cleopatra got her death; it kills by sleep. The third is the haemorrhois: after the bite of this asp one sweats blood in such a way that life itself pours out through the veins. The fourth is the prester asp, which runs with its mouth open and steaming; its bite causes such swelling that the victim dies because putrefaction sets in. And the last is the seps, by the bite of which the whole body is consumed. Jan 12, 2009

  • john “Another law enforcement official said that investigators with a search warrant seized a retractable baton — called an asp — and a radio antenna from Officer Cruz’s locker.�?

    The New York Times, Police Accuser Still in Hospital; Sharpton Visits, by Al Baker, Kareem Fahim and William K. Rashbaum, October 25, 2008 Oct 26, 2008

  • frindley The asp is a serpent that avoids the enchantment of music by pressing one ear against the ground and plugging the other ear with its tail. In some versions the asp guards a tree that drips balm; to get the balm men must first put the asp to sleep by playing or singing to it. Another version holds that the asp has a precious stone called a carbuncle in its head, and the enchanter must say certain words to the asp to obtain the stone. Oct 12, 2008

‘asp’ has been looked up 1609 times, added to 15 lists, commented on 5 times, and has a Scrabble score of 5.