Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A salutation or toast given in drinking someone's health or as an expression of goodwill at a festivity.
- noun The drink used in such toasting, commonly ale or wine spiced with roasted apples and sugar.
- noun A festivity characterized by much drinking.
- intransitive verb To drink to the health of; toast.
- intransitive verb To engage in or drink a wassail.
from The Century Dictionary.
- To drink to the health or prosperity of: as, to
wassail the apple (an old custom on Christmas eve). - To drink healths; carouse.
- noun The salutation, toast, or form of words in which healths were formerly pledged in drinking, equivalent to ‘health,’ or ‘your good health,’ now in use.
- noun A festive occasion or meeting where drinking and pledging of healths are indulged in; festivities; a drinking-bout; a carouse.
- noun The liquor used on such occasions; specifically, ale, mixed with a smaller amount of wine, sweetened and flavored with spices, fruit, etc.
- noun A merry drinking-song.
- noun Synonyms Revel, Debauch, etc. See
carousal .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Of or pertaining to wassail, or to a wassail; convivial.
- adjective a bowl in which wassail was mixed, and placed upon the table.
- adjective a cup from which wassail was drunk.
- intransitive verb To hold a wassail; to carouse.
- noun An ancient expression of good wishes on a festive occasion, especially in drinking to some one.
- noun An occasion on which such good wishes are expressed in drinking; a drinking bout; a carouse.
- noun The liquor used for a wassail; esp., a beverage formerly much used in England at Christmas and other festivals, made of ale (or wine) flavored with spices, sugar, toast, roasted apples, etc.; -- called also
lamb's wool . - noun obsolete A festive or drinking song or glee.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
toast to health, usually at afestival . - noun The
beverage served during a wassail. - noun
Revelry . - verb transitive To
toast , todrink to the health of another. - verb intransitive To drink wassail.
- verb To go from house to house at
Christmastime , singingcarols .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb celebrate noisily, often indulging in drinking; engage in uproarious festivities
- noun a punch made of sweetened ale or wine heated with spices and roasted apples; especially at Christmas
- verb propose a toast to
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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The word wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon greeting waes hael, which meant “be well.”
Christmas Feast Joanna Waugh 2008
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The word wassail comes from the Anglo-Saxon greeting waes hael, which meant “be well.”
Archive 2008-12-01 Joanna Waugh 2008
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He was apt to tell me when he had been sitting up all night, whether in study or what he called wassail; but I could always guess the fact from his appearance.
A Romantic Young Lady Robert Grant 1896
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And each meeting meant a drink; and there was much to talk about; and more drinks; and songs to be sung; and pranks and antics to be performed, until the maggots of imagination began to crawl, and it all seemed great and wonderful to me, these lusty hard-bitten sea - rovers, of whom I made one, gathered in wassail on a coral strand.
Chapter 16 2010
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And each meeting meant a drink; and there was much to talk about; and more drinks; and songs to be sung; and pranks and antics to be performed, until the maggots of imagination began to crawl, and it all seemed great and wonderful to me, these lusty hard-bitten sea - rovers, of whom I made one, gathered in wassail on a coral strand.
Chapter XVI 1913
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Glögg is similar to a variety of historical mulled wines, such as wassail and gluwein.
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For hot "wassail", use orange koolaid the church's brand is best....but you can't buy it with a pinch of cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cloves in it, then heat it.
Archive 2007-02-01 Becca 2007
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For hot "wassail", use orange koolaid the church's brand is best....but you can't buy it with a pinch of cinnamon and a tiny pinch of cloves in it, then heat it.
Hot Cocoa Becca 2007
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Yuletide "wassail", can be derived from his having "powlert up and down" in a county abounding with comfortable manor houses and cosy inns.
Dickens-Land E. W. Haslehust 1907
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There is something barbaric, I suppose, in the British customs still -- something that reminds one of their ancient condition when the Romans conquered them -- when their supreme idea of enjoyment was to have an ox roasted whole before them while they drank "wassail" till they groveled under their own tables in a worse condition than overfed swine.
Vendetta: a story of one forgotten Marie Corelli 1889
asativum commented on the word wassail
According to Robert Gayre, in Brewing Mead: Wassail! In Mazers of Mead (with Charlie Papazian) probably derived from an old English toast along the lines of "wachs heil," or to your health; the response was, he says, "drinc heil". From thence to the drink itself.
September 7, 2008
bilby commented on the word wassail
Decent account here, including recipe.
December 16, 2009