Wassail
noun, verb ·Moderate ·College level
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."
Example
More examples"Add ſugar, nutmeg and ginger, / VVith ſtore of ale too; / And thus ye muſt doe / To make the vvaſſaile a ſvvinger."
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).