handsel

[lettered]

hand·sel

   
[han-suhl]

–noun
1. 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.
2. a first installment of payment
3. the initial experience of anything; first encounter with or use of something taken as a token of what will follow; foretaste

–verb (used with object), -seled, -sel·ing or (especially British) -selled, -sel·ling

4. to give a handsel to
5. to inaugurate auspiciously
6. to use, try, or experience for the first time

also, hansel