housel

American  

[hou-zuhl] / ˈhaʊ zəl /

noun

1. the Eucharist.

2. the act of administering or receiving the Eucharist.

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verb (used with object)

houseled, houseling, houselled, houselling

1. to administer the Eucharist to.

housel British  

/ ˈhaʊzəl /

noun

1. a medieval name for Eucharist

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verb

1. (tr) to give the Eucharist to (someone)

Etymology

Origin of housel

First recorded before 900; Middle English; (noun) Old English hūsl “the Eucharist,” probably originally, “offering”; cognate with Old Norse hūsl, Gothic hunsl “sacrifice, offering”

Example Sentences

And in a ladychapel another taking housel all to his own cheek.

From Ulysses by Joyce, James

The little artist was standing at the open door of the housel "At last!" he exclaimed.

From The Children of the World by Heyse, Paul

“For the winning of a soul from Purgatory that hath passed thither without housel ne chrism.”

From The White Rose of Langley A Story of the Olden Time by Holt, Emily Sarah

This has purloined the wages of the labourer; it has reduced him by degrees to housel with the spider and the bat, and to feed with the pig.

From Cottage Economy To Which Is Added The Poor Man's Friend by Cobbett, William

Low-latched in leaf-light housel his too huge godhead.

From Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins Now First Published by Bridges, Robert Seymour