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

She said that he had a fair sweet death through God His goodness with masspriest to be shriven, holy housel and sick men's oil to his limbs.

From Ulysses by Joyce, James

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

Spenser seems here to have in mind, not the Christian housel or Eucharist, but the Roman marriage rites with their symbolic fire and water.

From Spenser's The Faerie Queene, Book I by Spenser, Edmund

I pray you let me go upon my way, for there are those whom I would shrive and housel.

From Sir Nigel by Doyle, Arthur Conan, Sir

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