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

As he arose from the slab, a bird in housel for the night flew out of the box.

From The Prince of India — Volume 02 by Wallace, Lewis

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

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

It is the people's wont, after the housel, to go up step by step to the vessel, and taste the heavenly fluid.

From The Homilies of the Anglo-Saxon Church Containing the Sermones Catholici, or Homilies of ?lfric, in the Original Anglo-Saxon, with an English Version. Volume I. by Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham

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

For they shrive them and housel them evermore once or twice in the week. 

From The Travels of Sir John Mandeville by Mandeville, John, Sir