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.

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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

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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” ( 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

Superior Court Judge John Hannah, however, shook up those plans when he deemed two of Lake's witnesses — Erich Speckin, a forensic document analyst, and Chris Handsel, a software consultant — irrelevant to the trial.

From Salon

The aquarium’s director of husbandry, Tim Handsel, says staffers are working closely with the state Department of Natural Resources in helping the turtles recover.

From Washington Times

The first Time one comes to a House, the Domestics accost you for something to drink, which is what they call Lucky Handsel; they mump again at New-Years Tide, and in the Month of August, which is what they call la Ferra Gusta, and again when the Mistress of the House is brought to bed of a Son; in short, they find out so many Pretences, that they are perpetually teizing People for Money.

From Project Gutenberg

HANDSEL, the O. Eng. term for earnest money; especially in Scotland the first money taken at a market or fair.

From Project Gutenberg

Handsels were also presents or earnests of goodwill in the North; thus Handsel Monday, the first Monday in the year, an occasion for universal tipping, is the equivalent of the English Boxing day.

From Project Gutenberg