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Wassail
Definitions
- 1 A toast to health, usually on a festive occasion. countable, uncountable
- 2 a punch made of sweetened ale or wine heated with spices and roasted apples; especially at Christmas wordnet
- 3 The beverage served during a wassail, especially one made of ale or wine flavoured with spices, sugar, roasted apples, etc. countable, uncountable
"Add ſugar, nutmeg and ginger, / VVith ſtore of ale too; / And thus ye muſt doe / To make the vvaſſaile a ſvvinger."
- 4 Revelry. countable, uncountable
"In merry wassail he […] peals his loud song."
- 5 A festive or drinking song or glee. countable, uncountable
"Have you done your wassail? 'Tis a handsome, drowsy ditty, I'll assure you."
- 1 To toast, to drink to the health of another. transitive
"The next morning he much regretted the gusto with which he had wassailed the night before."
- 2 propose a toast to wordnet
- 3 To drink wassail. intransitive
- 4 celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities wordnet
- 5 To go from house to house at Christmastime, singing carols.
"Schoolchildren around the globe have gleefully sung Torches at Christmastime for half a century. Many of those in Birmingham have wassailed the carol at the front door of a cosy Victorian house in Moseley, unaware that behind that front door lives its composer."
Etymology
From Middle English wassail, from Old Norse ves heill (“be healthy!”), from the imperative of vesa (“to be”) + heill (“healthy”). The earliest documented use of the term is from the first part of the 12th century CE, in Geoffroy of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (see page's citations).
From Middle English wassail, from Old Norse ves heill (“be healthy!”), from the imperative of vesa (“to be”) + heill (“healthy”). The earliest documented use of the term is from the first part of the 12th century CE, in Geoffroy of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae (see page's citations).
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