wassail
Americannoun
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a salutation wishing health to a person, used in England in early times when presenting a cup of drink or when drinking to the person.
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a festivity or revel with drinking of healths.
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liquor for drinking and wishing health to others on festive occasions, especially spiced ale, as on Christmas Eve and Twelfth-night.
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Archaic. a song sung in wassailing.
verb (used without object)
verb (used with object)
noun
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(formerly) a toast or salutation made to a person at festivities
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a festivity when much drinking takes place
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alcoholic drink drunk at such a festivity, esp spiced beer or mulled wine
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the singing of Christmas carols, going from house to house
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archaic a drinking song
verb
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to drink the health of (a person) at a wassail
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(intr) to go from house to house singing carols at Christmas
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have wassailedperfect
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has wassailedperfect 3rd person singular
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are wassailingprogressive
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is wassailingprogressive 3rd person singular
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have been wassailingperfect progressive
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has been wassailingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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am wassailingprogressive 1st person singular
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wassailingparticiple
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wassailssingular 3rd person
Past
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had wassailedperfect
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was wassailingprogressive singular
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were wassailingprogressive plural
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had been wassailingperfect progressive
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wassailedparticiple
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wassailedsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of wassail
1175–1225; Middle English was-hail, equivalent to was be ( Old English wæs, variant of wes, imperative of wesan to be; akin to was ) + hail hale 1, in good health (< Old Norse heill hale); replacing Old English wæs hāl be hale or whole. See whole, heal
Vocabulary lists containing wassail
National Spelling Bee '14: Prelims Round 3
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The wassail of my choice this year is a giant bottle of stout bottled in Wisconsin under the label “For Whom.”
From The New Yorker • Dec. 18, 2018
The scent of cinnamon and clove permeated the building, as members brewed traditional wassail for the occasion.
From Seattle Times • Dec. 11, 2017
You spoiled them, and they came to expect your Christmas exertions as a tradition that spared them the effort of providing their own ham and wassail bowl.
From Slate • Dec. 31, 2014
Also on the program were spirited renditions of a traditional Cornish wassail song; “Star in the East,” a 19th-century American folk hymn; and a harmonically pungent arrangement of John Tavener’s song “The Lamb.”
From New York Times • Dec. 16, 2010
The meats were followed by flaming puddings and bowls of wassail, chestnuts, and apples.
From "The Door in the Wall" by Marguerite de Angeli
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
