arvel

Noun

arval (plural arvals)

1. (Northern England, Scotland, archaic) A funeral feast or wake at which bread and ale was served, traditional in Scotland, the North of England, and among the Norse.
   • It was customary in the north to have an arval or funeral dinner after an interment.1867, Memoirs of the Life of Mr. Ambrose Barnes, Late Merchant, page 65
2. (historical, rare) The ale served at such a wake, the drinking of which was a ritually significant act in Norse culture.
   • […] Then quoth Hamtheow, etc.: 'We shall never come back to our mother [when we have slain the King of Goths]. Thou shalt drink the arval for us all together, for Swanhild and thy sons.'1883, Guðbrandur Vigfússon, Frederick York Powell, Corpus Poeticum Boreale: Eddic poems, page 55
3. (Lancashire) The money given to hunters, at the death of a fox, in order to buy ale.