[wos-uh l, -eyl, was-, wo-seyl]
1. a salutation wishing health to a person, used in England in early times when presenting a cup of drink or when drinking to the person.
2. a festivity or revel with drinking of healths.
3. liquor for drinking and wishing health to others on festive occasions, especially spiced ale, as on Christmas Eve and Twelfth-night.
4. Archaic. a song sung in wassailing.
Verb (used without object)
5. to revel with drinking.
6. to drink to the health or success of; toast.
Origin:
The noun and verb senses of wassail come from popular medieval English expressions used first as a general greeting and, later, in toasting someone’s health. The Old English phrase Wes þū hāl, meaning “Be thou healthy (hale)”was a general greeting used, for example, in Beowulf: the young Beowulf greets the old king Hrothgar with Wæs thū, Hrothgar, hāl. The Danish Vikings introduced the corresponding Old Norse salutation Ves heill in the 800s, which replaced the Old English phrase. Neither the Old English nor the Old Norse phrase was used as a toast. The Normans in the 1100s were the first to recognize this phrase used as a toast among the English.
“Well, wassail to the good of all,” Ranulf said sourly. He poured another drink and raised a toast.”
- Elizabeth Chadwick, To Defy a King, 2010
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