Dictionary.net

• A large bowl in which wassail was mixed and placed on the table before a festive company. It was an old custom to go about with such a bowl, containing the liquor called wassail, at the time of the New Year, etc., singing a festival song, and drinking the health of the inhabitants, and collecting money to replenish the bowl. In some parts of England the wassail bowl still appears at Christmas. "When the cloth was removed the butler brought in a huge silver vessel. Its appearance was hailed with acclamation, being the wassail-bowl so renowed in Christmas festivity."-W. Irving.

1899 - The american dictionary of the english language.
By Daniel Lyons