wassail

English

WOTD – 25 December 2012, 25 December 2014

Alternative forms

  • wasseil

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 Monmounth's Historia Regum Britanniae (see page's citations).

Pronunciation

  • (General American) IPA(key): /ˈwɑseɪl/
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈwɒseɪl/, /ˈwɒsl/, /ˈwæsl/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ɑseɪl, -ɒseɪl, -ɒsəl, -æsəl

Noun

wassail (countable and uncountable, plural wassails)

  1. A toast to health, usually on a festive occasion.
  2. The beverage served during a wassail, especially one made of ale or wine flavoured with spices, sugar, roasted apples, etc.
  3. Revelry.
  4. A festive or drinking song or glee.

Translations

Verb

wassail (third-person singular simple present wassails, present participle wassailing, simple past and past participle wassailed)

  1. (transitive) To toast, to drink to the health of another.
    The next morning he much regretted the gusto with which he had wassailed the night before.
  2. (intransitive) To drink wassail.
  3. To go from house to house at Christmastime, singing carols.
    • 2002 February 21, Christopher Morley, “Culture: Children carry a torch for carol king; John Joubert will be 75 next month”, in The Birmingham Post:
      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.
    • 2006, Ronald M. Clancy, Best-Loved Christmas Carols: The Stories Behind Twenty-Five Yuletide Favorites, Sterling Publishing Co., Inc., published 2006, →ISBN, page 81:
      During the Christmas season, carolers traveled from house to house, bringing good wishes and carrying an empty bowl. The master of the house being wassailed was expected to fill the bowl with hot, spicy ale.
    • 2010 December 26, Burton Cole, “Holiday mysteries to roast in your wassail”, in Tribune Chronicle:
      "I wish someone would come to my house and wassail!" Jessica P. of Howland said.

Synonyms

  • (go from house to house, singing carols): carol

See also

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