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HANDSEL
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HANDSEL, the O. Eng. term for earnest money; especially in Scotland the first money taken at a market or fair. The termination set is the modern " sell." " Hand " indicates, not a bargain by shaking hands, but the actual putting of the money into the hand. Handsets were also presents or earnests of good-will in the North; thus Handsel Monday, the first Monday in the year, an occasion for universal tipping,' is the equivalent of the English Boxing day.