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Webster 1913 Edition


Handsel

Hand′sel

(hănd′sĕl)
,
Noun.
[Written also
hansel
.]
[OE.
handsal
,
hansal
,
hansel
, AS.
handselen
a giving into hands, or more prob. fr. Icel.
handsal
;
hand
hand +
sal
sale, bargain; akin to AS.
sellan
to give, deliver. See
Sell
,
Sale
. ]
1.
A sale, gift, or delivery into the hand of another; especially, a sale, gift, delivery, or using which is the first of a series, and regarded as an omen for the rest; a first installment; an earnest; as the first money received for the sale of goods in the morning, the first money taken at a shop newly opened, the first present sent to a young woman on her wedding day, etc.
Their first good
handsel
of breath in this world.
Fuller.
Our present tears here, not our present laughter,
Are but the
handsels
of our joys hereafter.
Herrick.
2.
Price; payment.
[Obs.]
Spenser.
Handsel Monday
,
the first Monday of the new year, when handsels or presents are given to servants, children, etc.

Hand′sel

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Handseled
or
Handselled
(hănd′sĕld)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Handseling
or
Handselling
.]
[Written also
hansel
.]
[OE
handsellen
,
hansellen
; cf. Icel.
hadsala
,
handselja
. See
Handsel
,
Noun.
]
1.
To give a handsel to.
2.
To use or do for the first time, esp. so as to make fortunate or unfortunate; to try experimentally.
No contrivance of our body, but some good man in Scripture hath
handseled
it with prayer.
Fuller.

Webster 1828 Edition


Handsel

HAND'SEL

, n.
1.
The first act of using any thing; the first sale.
2.
An earnest; money for the first sale. [Little used.]

HAND'SEL

,
Verb.
T.
To use or do any thing the first time.

Definition 2024


handsel

handsel

English

Alternative forms

Noun

handsel (plural handsels)

  1. (obsolete) A lucky omen.
  2. A gift given at New Year, or at the start of some enterprise or new situation, meant to ensure good luck.
    • Fuller:
      their first good handsel of breath in this world
    • Herrick:
      Our present tears here, not our present laughter, / Are but the handsels of our joys hereafter.
  3. The first installment, or first payment of money in a day or series.
  4. (obsolete) price; payment
    • Malory:
      And as I trow, said Sir Sagramore, ye shall have the same handsel that he had.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Spenser to this entry?)

Derived terms

  • Handsel Monday, the first Monday of the new year, when handsels or presents are given to servants, children, etc.

Verb

handsel (third-person singular simple present handsels, present participle handselling or handseling, simple past and past participle handselled or handseled)

  1. (transitive) To give a handsel to.
    • 2002, Joseph O'Connor, Star of the Sea, Vintage 2003, p.55:
      She would leave a gold guinea to hansel the baby.
  2. (transitive) To inaugurate by means of some ceremony; to break in.
    • 1603, John Florio, translating Michel de Montaigne, Essayes, London: Edward Blount, OCLC 946730821, Folio Society, 2006, vol.1, p.86:
      And it is better undecently to faile in hanseling the nuptiall bed, full of agitation and fits, by waiting for some or other fitter occasion, and more private opportunitie, lest sudden and alarmed, than to fall into a perpetuall miserie, by apprehending an astonishment and desperation of the first refusall.
  3. (transitive) To use or do for the first time, especially so as to make fortunate or unfortunate; to try experimentally.
    • Indeed there is no contrivance of our body, but some good man in Scripture hath hanselled it with prayer.
    • 1994, Michael Brodsky, ***, Four Walls Eight Windows, ISBN 978-1-56858-000-5, page 38:
      [] the success of the one did not handsel usurpation [] of the other's.

Derived terms

Anagrams