Note to aspiring Wiccans, neopagans, and progressive Catholics:
A spray of evergreen or a pine cone will also do the job nicely. Your fingers work, too, but you need to practice or else those closest to you will end up in a Sea World-like splash zone.

A toilet brush will also work, but it's hard to begin a purifying ritual with a tool that everyone imagines is rife with fecal coliform bacteria.

As"per*gill (#), As`per*gil"lum (#), n. [LL. aspergillum, fr. L. aspergere. See Asperse, v. t.]

1.

The brush used in the Roman Catholic church for sprinkling holy water on the people.

[Also written aspergillus.]

2. Zool.

See Wateringpot shell.

 

© Webster 1913.