cresselle

English

Etymology

French crécelle (“rattle”).

Noun

cresselle (plural cresselles)

1. (historical) A wooden rattle sometimes used as a substitute for a bell in the Roman Catholic church.
   • 1971, Gwen White, Antique Toys And Their Background, page 36:

     Analarin, a priest, spoke of boxwood rattles, which were used to announce the clergy from the ninth century. The crécelle, or 'cressel', was once used in Roman Catholic churches during Passion Week instead of a bell.

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “cresselle”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)