Word.ws English Dictionary

handsell

handsell is the alternative form of handsel.

Meaning of handsel

Noun

handsel (plural handsels)

  1. (obsolete) A lucky omen.
  2. A gift given at New Year, or at the start of some enterprise or new situation, meant to ensure good luck.
    • their first good handsel of breath in this world1655, Thomas Fuller, The Church-history of Britain; […], London: […] Iohn Williams […], →OCLC, (please specify |book=I to XI)
  3. (archaic) Price, payment; especially the first installment of a series.
    • That whoso hardy hand on her doth lay ,
      It dearly shall abye and death for handsel pay1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto XI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC

See all 6 meanings of handsel

Forms of handsell

pluralhandsells

Questions about handsell

What is handsell the alternative form of?
Handsell is the alternative form of handsel.

Words near handsell in the dictionary

  1. handsearching
  2. handsel
  3. Handsel Monday
  4. handseled
  5. handseling
  6. handsell
  7. handselled
  8. handseller
  9. handsellers
  10. handselling
  11. handsells

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handsell (page history and authors); handsel (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “handsell.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handsell. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.