Meaning

A toast to health, usually on a festive occasion..

Definitions by Sense

1. A toast to health, usually on a festive occasion.
2. The beverage served during a wassail, especially one made of ale or wine flavoured with spices, sugar, roasted apples, etc.
3. Revelry.
4. A festive or drinking song or glee.
5. (transitive) To toast, to drink to the health of another.
6. (intransitive) To drink wassail.
7. To go from house to house at Christmastime, singing carols.

Example Sentences

Add ſugar, nutmeg and ginger, / VVith ſtore of ale too; / And thus ye muſt doe / To make the vvaſſaile a ſvvinger.

In merry wassail he […] peals his loud song.

The victors abandoned themselves to feasting and wassail.

A blinding light against a garish blue sky made vision difficult, thanks to the previous night's wassail.

Then as dawn brightened and the day broke Grendel's powers of destruction were plain: their wassail was over, they wept to heaven and mourned under morning.

Have you done your wassail? 'Tis a handsome, drowsy ditty, I'll assure you.

The next morning he much regretted the gusto with which he had wassailed the night before.

Schoolchildren around the globe have gleefully sung Torches at Christmastime for half a century. Many of those in Birmingham have wassailed the carol at the front door of a cosy Victorian house in Moseley, unaware that behind that front door lives its composer.

Word Forms

• wassails
• wasseil
• wassailing
• wassailed

Synonyms for wassail

Related Words

When Should You Use Wassail?

Use wassail when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

Practice This Word

Frequently Asked Questions