- a gift or token for good luck or as an expression of good wishes, as at the beginning of the new year or when entering upon a new situation or enterprise.
- a first installment of payment.
- the initial experience of anything; first encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow; foretaste.
- to give (someone) a gift for good luck or as an expression of good wishes, especially at the beginning of the new year or the launch of a new enterprise..
- to inaugurate auspiciously.
- to use, try, or experience for the first time.
- a gift for good luck at the beginning of a new year, new venture, etc
- to give a handsel to (a person)
- to begin (a venture) with ceremony; inaugurate
