handsel

American  

[han-suhl] / ˈhæn səl /

Or hansel

noun

1. a gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes, as at the beginning of the new year or when entering upon a new situation or enterprise.

2. Rare. a first installment of payment.

3. Rare. the initial experience of anything; first encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow; foretaste.

---

verb (used with object)

handseled, handseling, handselled, handselling

1. to give (someone) a gift for good luck or as an expression of good wishes, especially at the beginning of the new year or the launch of a new enterprise..

2. Older Use. to inaugurate auspiciously.

3. Older Use. to use, try, or experience for the first time.

handsel British  

/ ˈhænsəl /

noun

1. a gift for good luck at the beginning of a new year, new venture, etc

---

verb

1. to give a handsel to (a person)

2. to begin (a venture) with ceremony; inaugurate

Other Word Forms

• unhandseled
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of handsel

First recorded before 1050; Middle English handselne “good-luck token, good-will gift,” Old English handselen “manumission,” literally “hand-gift” ( see hand, sell ¹); cognate with Danish handsel, “earnest money.” The Middle English word was influenced by Old Norse handsal “handshake, handclasp (for sealing a purchase or a promise)”

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

handsel handseled handselled handselling

Aleman, Cervantes, Lesage, Defoe and Fielding were inspired to imitation, and today Lazarillo is acclaimed as the prototype of the picaresque novel, as a handsel of the arriving era of realism in European literature.

From Time Magazine Archive

Under the name of handsel to Pius IX., the Catholic press opened subscription lists.

From Pius IX. And His Time by Dawson, Æneas MacDonell

When you have become expert at it, you may always keep yourself neat and tidy about the legs, on Sundays and handsel Mondays.

From The Eskdale Herd-boy A Scottish Tale for the Instruction and Amusement of Young People by Blackford, Mrs. (Martha)

"Barrin' the first foundation in the kitchen within," he replied; "for you must know that's what I call my breakfast, handsel of any kind didn't cross my palm this day."

From The Tithe-Proctor The Works of William Carleton, Volume Two by Carleton, William

The carpenter of Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, likewise, as Pepys said of a new pair of stocks in his neighborhood, took handsel of the stocks of his own making.

From Curious Punishments of Bygone Days by Earle, Alice Morse

"Liberty has always been bought with life, and the glory of the greatest nations handseled with the blood of their founders."

From Remember the Alamo by Barr, Amelia Edith Huddleston

Then he made peace between them and clad them all in sumptuous dresses of honour and handselled them with precious jewels of land and sea.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume IV by Payne, John

And between their clasped hands it lay,—the bit of orange ribbon that had handselled all their happiness.

From The Bow of Orange Ribbon A Romance of New York by Hampe, Theo.

Harry'll like it none the worse for my having handselled it.'

From The House of Cobwebs and Other Stories by Gissing, George

She handselled it, and hastening where he lay, cried in furious fashion, "You are unbound already."

From French Mediaeval Romances from the Lays of Marie de France by France, Marie de

The full moon handselled with the stars the teeth, like grains of      pearl, That on the laughing face of wine now dance, now      stirless lie.

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume III by Payne, John

So now he gave forth the handselling grandly with open mouth, and this is the beginning thereof.

From The Story of Grettir the Strong by Morris, William

Mary, who is handselling her new aerial perspectives upon a pair of old worsted stockings trod out in Cheshunt lanes, sends love.

From The Works of Charles and Mary Lamb — Volume 6 Letters 1821-1842 by Lamb, Mary