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

For the housel and the chrism, they be mercies of man.

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

They bathed his face and he gathered strength after a time to say “A priest!—oh for a priest to shrive and housel me.”

From The Armourer's Prentices by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

We were wedded out of hand by the priest that had been sent for to housel him, and in our true names. 

From The Armourer's Prentices by Yonge, Charlotte Mary

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

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

They bathed his face and he gathered strength after a time to say, “A priest!—oh for a priest to shrive and housel me.”

From The Armourer's Prentices by Hennessy, W.J.