wassail-bowl
A large bowl or cup in which wassail (sense 2) was made and from which healths were drunk; a loving-cup; also the liquor contained in the bowl.
| 1606 Sir G. Goosecappe ii. i. D 3 b, Hee is a most excellent Turner, and will turne you wassel-bowles, and posset Cuppes. 1608–9 Shuttleworths' Acc. (Chetham Soc.) 179 Given to the maides which came with the wassell-boule, xij{supd}. 1610 Fletcher Faithf. Shepherdess v. i, Some neere towne,..Hath drawne them thether, bout some lusty sport; Or spiced wassal Boule. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Country Life 56 Thy Wassaile bowle, That's tost up after Fox i' th' Hole..; thy Christmas revellings. 1661 Pepys Diary 26 Dec., We went into an alehouse and there..a washeall⁓bowle woman and girle came to us and sung to us. 1686–7 Aubrey Rem. Gentilism & Judaism (1881) 40 They goe into the Ox-house to the oxen, with the Wassell-bowle and drink to the ox. 1777 Brand Pop. Antiq. xvi. 195 Young Women went about with a Wassail-bowl, that is, a Bowl of spiced Ale on New Year's Eve. 1808 Scott Marm. i. xv, A mighty wassail-bowl he took, And crown'd it high in wine. 1820 W. Irving Sketch Bk. (1849) 287 A huge silver vessel of rare and curious workmanship..the Wassail Bowl, so renowned in Christmas festivity. Ibid. 288 note, The Wassail Bowl was sometimes composed of ale instead of wine; with nutmeg, sugar, toast, ginger, and roasted crabs. 1860 G. P. Morris Poems (ed. 15) 178 Some love to stroll where the wassail-boul And the wine-cups circle free. |