Some 16th-century Italian clergymen tried to ban coffee because they believed it to be “satanic.” However, Pope Clement VII loved coffee so much that he lifted the ban and had coffee baptized in 1600.
HANDSELS
Noun
handsels
plural of handsel
Verb
handsels
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of handsel
Anagrams
• handless
Source: Wiktionary
HANDSEL
Hand"sel, n. [Written also hansel.] Etym: [OE. handsal, hansal, hansel, AS. handsa giving into hands, or more prob. fr. Icel. handsal; hand hand + sal sale, bargain; akin to AS. sellan to give, deliver. See Sell, Sale. ]
1. A sale, gift, or delivery into the hand of another; especially, a sale, gift, delivery, or using which is the first of a series, and regarded as on omen for the rest; a first installment; an earnest; as the first money received for the sale of goods in the morning, the first money taken at a shop newly opened, the first present sent to a young woman on her wedding day, etc. Their first good handsel of breath in this world. Fuller. Our present tears here, not our present laughter, Are but the handsels of our joys hereafter. Herrick.
2. Price; payment. [Obs.] Spenser. Handsel Monday, the first Monday of the new year, when handsels or presents are given to servants, children, etc.
Hand"sel, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Handseled or Handseled (; p. pr. & vb. n. Handseling or Handselling.] Etym: [Written also hansel.] Etym: [OE handsellen, hansellen;cf. Isel. hadsala, handselja. See Handsel, n.]
1. To give a handsel to.
2. To use or do for the first time, esp. so as to make fortunate or unfortunate; to try experimentally. No contrivance of our body, but some good man in Scripture hath handseled it with prayer. Fuller.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
13 May 2025
DAZED
(adjective) in a state of mental numbness especially as resulting from shock; “he had a dazed expression on his face”; “lay semiconscious, stunned (or stupefied) by the blow”; “was stupid from fatigue”
Coffee Trivia
