Word of the Day for Monday, July 25, 2011
handsel \HAN-suhl\, noun:
1. First encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow.
2. A gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes.
3. A first installment of payment.
The havoc that the B.O. has wrought upon this country is but a handsel of what we will get if he is re-elected in 2012!
--Spy Maker, JSA's Blog
Breakfast done, the seekers made little delay, so eager as they were to behold the King, and to have handsel of their new sweet life.-- William Morris, The Story of the Glittering Plain: Or the Land of Living Men
Or (if what they say is true and the ability cum willingness to speak the unspeakable proves the unspeakable's on the way out at last) does it on the contrary provoke a handsel, a prosperous new era, one long overdue, for all concerned?-- Michael Brodsky, Limit point
Handsel is a venerable English word, literally consisting of "hand" and an early word for "gift."
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