Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun The Eucharist.
  • transitive verb To administer the Eucharist to.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The eucharist; the sacrament.
  • noun The act of taking or receiving the sacrament.
  • To administer the eucharist to.
  • Hence To prepare for a journey.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Archaic The eucharist.
  • transitive verb Archaic To administer the eucharist to.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic the Eucharist
  • verb transitive, archaic To administer the Eucharist to.
  • verb transitive, rare To prepare for a journey.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English hūsel, sacrifice, Eucharist; see kwen- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English housel, from Old English hūsl ("housel, Eucharist, the Host, a sacrifice"), from Proto-Germanic *hunslan (“sacrifice”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwen- (“holy”). Cognate with Icelandic húsl ("housel"), Gothic  (hunsl, "sacrifice, offering"), Slavic *svętъ (“holy, sacred”) (OED).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English houselen, from Old English hūslian ("to administer the sacrament"), from Proto-Germanic *hunslōnan (“to sacrifice, offer”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱwen- (“holy”). Cognate with Icelandic húsla ("to housel"), Old Swedish húsla ("to administer the Eucharist to"), Gothic  (hunsljan, "to offer, sacrifice").

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Examples

  • The word "housel" for the sacrament of the Lord's Supper has gone out of use, though most of us are familiar with the line

    Bell's Cathedrals: Wimbourne Minster and Christchurch Priory A Short History of Their Foundation and a Description of Their Buildings Thomas Perkins 1874

  • Begone from the housel stand not at the court-yard gate, annoying my masters! otherwise shalt thou die, for thou art a Hellene born. and with them have we no dealings.

    Helen 2008

  • Begone from the housel stand not at the court-yard gate, annoying my masters! otherwise shalt thou die, for thou art a Hellene born. and with them have we no dealings.

    Helen 2008

  • For they shrive them and housel them evermore once or twice in the week.

    The Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

  • And there be many of them that housel them every day; and so do we not on this half, albeit that Saint Paul commandeth it, saying, OMNIBUS

    The Travels of Sir John Mandeville 2004

  • And in a ladychapel another taking housel all to his own cheek.

    Ulysses 2003

  • Lewis was staring towards the housel Jessica opened the french window and ran up to him, hugging him with a love that made Lacey's eyes sting with tears.

    A Cure For Love Jordan, Penny 1991

  • "Kelolo will not live in this house any morel He will live in that housel" And she indicated one of the compound quarters about twenty feet removed from his previous residence.

    Hawaii Michener, James 1959

  • "Acoluthus he is called, who bears the candle or taper in God's ministries when the Gospel is read, or when the housel is hallowed at the altar: not to dispel, as it were, the dim darkness, but, with that light, to announce bliss, in honour of Christ who is our light."

    Notes and Queries, Number 63, January 11, 1851 Various

  • "My dear Everard," she whispered, "Henry is in the housel Besides"Yes, I suppose you must be Everard.

    The Great Impersonation Oppenheim, E. Phillips 1920

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