Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Handsel \Hand"sel\, n. [Written also {hansel}.] [OE. handsal,
   hansal, hansel, AS. hands?lena 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.