¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Handsels
1. handsel [v] - See also: handsel
Lexicographical Neighbors of Handsels
Literary usage of Handsels
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Encyclopaedia Britannica, a Dictionary of Arts, Sciences, Literature and edited by Hugh Chisholm (1910)
"handsels were also presents or earnests of goodwill in the North; thus Handsel
Monday, the first Monday in the year, an occasion for universal tipping, ..."
2. The Book of Days: A Miscellany of Popular Antiquities in Connection with the by Robert Chambers (1832)
"... or handsels, as they are termed in Scotland, where, however, they are scarcely
ever claimed till after the commencement of the New Year. ..."
3. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1853)
"... into the hands of us and our associates : And apparent it is that God heard
us, both in the former and in the latter : of which we had sundry handsels, ..."
4. Curiosities of Popular Customs and of Rites, Ceremonies, Observances, and by William Shepard Walsh (1897)
"... in the Scotch vocabulary, handsels. The young visit their seniors in expectation
of some remembrance, and postmen, scavengers, and newspaper carriers ..."
5. History of Friedrich II. of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great: Called by Thomas Carlyle (1873)
"... been made Lieutenant- Colonel, the very day he marched; his Commission dates
May 16th, 174.1; and on the morrow he handsels it in this pretty manner. ..."
6. History of Friedrich II, of Prussia: Called Frederick the Great by Thomas Carlyle (1900)
"... had been made Lieutenant- Colonel, the very day he marched; his Commission
dates May 16th, 1741; and on the morrow he handsels it in this pretty manner. ..."
7. History of Friedrich II of Prussia, Called Frederick the Great by Thomas Carlyle (1864)
"... got off with its guns, in this victorious manner: "thanks to Major-General
Ziethen, Colonel Reusch and the " others concerned. * " Ziethen handsels ..."
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