handsel
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Aleman, Cervantes, Lesage, Defoe and Fielding were inspired to imitation, and today Lazarillo is acclaimed as the prototype of the picaresque novel, as a handsel of the arriving era of realism in European literature.
From Time Magazine Archive
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Across the downs, on the bluff, stands the Villa Eugénie, the handsel of Biarritz's prosperity; and here about us is the town that grew up to make her court.
From A Midsummer Drive Through the Pyrenees by Dix, Edwin Asa
Then Hrut held his peace some little while, and afterwards he stood up, and said to Oswif, "Take now my hand in handsel as a token that thou lettest the suit drop."
From The Story of Burnt Njal: the great Icelandic tribune, jurist, and counsellor by Unknown
But the devil a sou the devils took; far from taking handsel, they were flouted and jeered by the country louts.
From Gargantua and Pantagruel, Illustrated, Book 4 by Motteux, Peter Anthony
Shame, man! greedy beyond your years To handsel the bishop’s shaving-shears?
From English Critical Essays Nineteenth Century by Jones, Edmund David
From Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus, Third Edition Copyright © 2013 by the Philip Lief Group.