As You Like It

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As You Like It Page 22

by William Shakespeare


  74 taxation slander

  78 troth faith

  80.1 Le Beau “the handsome” (French)

  82 put force

  85 marketable i.e. like pigeons fattened for sale

  87 lost missed

  88 colour kind

  92 laid … trowel expressed excessively/bluntly

  93 rank standing as a wit (Rosalind plays on the sense of “foul-smelling” for a joke about farting)

  94 losest lose/let loose, release

  94 old ripe/stale/customary

  95 amaze bewilder

  99 do come

  103 tale puns on “tail” (as opposed to beginning)

  104 proper handsome/fine

  106 bills advertisements/legal documents

  107 presents legal documents; plays on presence

  110 that so that

  111 So in the same way

  112 dole lamentation

  121 any anyone

  121 broken discordant/with parts arranged for different instruments (plays on the idea of broken ribs)

  126.1 Flourish trumpet fanfare, usually accompanying a person in authority

  129 his … forwardness whatever danger results is due to his reckless confidence

  132 looks successfully seems likely to succeed

  133 cousin term used for any relative beyond the immediate family

  135 leave permission

  137 odds advantage

  137 man i.e. Charles

  138 fain gladly

  148 come but in merely enter the field

  148 try test

  153 adventure venture

  154 equal evenly matched

  157 misprized undervalued/scorned

  157 suit request, petition

  162 foiled thrown/defeated

  163 gracious favored

  164 friends relatives/supporters

  170 eke out supplement

  171 deceived mistaken

  174 lie … earth be thrown on the ground/have sex with his mother earth /die and be buried (may anticipate the implied reference to Antaeus, son of Earth who renewed his strength by lying on the ground and whom Hercules defeated in wrestling)

  175 will wish/lust/penis

  176 working aim/sexual activity

  177 fall conclusive throw

  178 warrant assure

  181 come your ways come on

  182 Hercules demigod who wrestled with and defeated the mighty giant Antaeus

  182 speed protector

  187 down fall

  190 breathed exercised/out of breath

  199 still always

  206 calling name/position in life

  211 unto in addition to

  212 Ere before

  215 envious malicious

  216 Sticks pierces

  218 justly exactly

  218 promise expectation

  219 mistress sweetheart

  221 suits favor

  225 parts qualities/spirits

  227 quintain post used as a target when practicing jousting or darts

  229 would wants

  233 Have with you I’m coming

  235 conference conversation

  237 Or either

  241 condition disposition

  243 humorous temperamental

  243 indeed in reality

  244 conceive understand/imagine

  249 taller more elegant/more attractive (some editors assume a reference to height and emend to “smaller” or “shorter,” since Celia is less tall than Rosalind)

  255 gentle wellborn/kind

  256 argument reason

  260 suddenly at any time

  262 knowledge acquaintance

  263 rest remain

  263 bounden indebted

  264 from … smother i.e. from bad to worse

  264 smother dense, suffocating smoke/smoldering fire

  Act 1 Scene 3

  1 Cupid god of love

  5 curs dogs/worthless fellows

  6 reasons remarks/explanations

  7 Then there were if I did, then there would be

  11 child’s father i.e. one who might become the father of my children (Orlando)

  12 briars i.e. obstacles

  12 working-day ordinary, everyday

  13 burs prickly seed heads that stick easily to clothing

  15 petticoats skirts

  16 coat petticoat/skirt

  18 Hem cough (as if to dislodge something stuck in the throat or to clear the chest; pun on “sew a hem”)

  19 ‘hem’ puns on “him”

  19 have win, possess (plays on the sense of “have sex with”)

  20 wrestle plays on the sense of “grapple sexually”

  21 take … of support (part plays on the sense of “penis”)

  22 a … you bless you/good luck to you (upon may play on the sense of “mount sexually”)

  22 try fight/have sex

  23 fall throw in wrestling/bout of sex/moral lapse

  23 turning … service to finish with this joking (turning, jests and service all play on the sense of “copulation”)

  29 dearly deeply (possible pun on “deer” is generated by chase)

  29 chase pursuit/hunt

  32 Why … not? i.e. Why should I hate him?

  36 your safest haste sufficient haste to ensure your safety

  45 intelligence communication

  47 frantic mad

  48 dear noble

  52 purgation acquittal

  53 grace salvation, divine grace

  56 whereon on what

  61 friends relatives

  66 stayed kept

  67 Else otherwise

  67 ranged wandered

  69 pleasure will

  69 remorse compassion

  70 young immature

  72 still always

  73 an instant the same time

  73 eat eaten

  74 like Juno’s swans i.e. yoked together to pull the chariot of the Roman queen of the gods

  76 subtle crafty

  76 smoothness plausibility/friendliness

  79 name reputation

  82 doom judgment

  86 provide prepare

  88 greatness authority

  90 change exchange

  99 sundered separated

  103 change i.e. of circumstances

  105 at … pale depending on whether pale is an adjective or a noun, either “the sky is pale in shock and grief,” or “our sorrows have reached their utmost limit”

  112 mean lowly

  113 umber brown pigment (to conceal aristocratically pale complexions)

  118 suit … points dress myself in every respect

  119 gallant curtle-axe fine cutlass

  120 boar-spear weapon used for boar hunting

  122 swashing swaggering/dashing

  124 outface … semblances brazen it out with appearances

  126 Jove in Roman mythology, king of the gods

  127 Ganymede a beautiful youth, carried off by Jove to be his cupbearer; the name was also used by Elizabethans to refer to a youth who was the subject of an older man’s homosexual desire

  129 state status

  130 Aliena from the Latin for “stranger”

  131 assayed attempted

  133 travel journey/hardship

  135 Leave me alone leave it to me

  135 woo persuade

  139 content contentment

  Act 2 Scene 1

  2.1 Location: the Forest of Arden Amiens name of a northern French town; may suggest “friendliness” (from the Latin)

  2.1 foresters forest dwellers

  2 old custom established practice/experience

  3 painted pomp artificial show

  4 envious malicious

  5 penalty of Adam i.e. the harsher seasons and greater toil that followed loss of Eden

  6 difference change

  6 as such as

  7 churlish chiding harsh brawling/rebuking


  11 feelingly tangibly/intensely

  12 uses benefits

  13 toad … head supposedly, venomous toads had precious stones in their heads that were antidotes to poisons

  15 exempt … haunt not visited by people

  16 tongues speech

  18 change alter/exchange

  19 translate transform/re-express (one thing in terms of another)

  20 style mode of expression/way of life

  22 fools poor creatures

  23 burghers citizens

  23 desert lonely, uninhabited

  24 confines territories

  24 forkèd heads i.e. barbed arrowheads

  28 kind manner

  31 along stretched out

  32 antique ancient/antic (i.e. grotesquely gnarled)

  33 brawls rushes noisily

  34 sequestered separated (from his herd)

  40 Coursed flowed/chased (plays on the sense of “hunted”)

  42 markèd of noticed by

  43 extremest verge very edge

  46 moralize draw a moral from, interpret

  48 needless having no need (for more water)

  49 testament will

  50 worldlings materially minded mortals

  50 sum of more store/additional amount

  52 velvet friend deer with smooth coat/richly clothed per son/syphilitic lover

  53 part depart from/separate

  54 flux continuous stream

  54 Anon instantly/soon

  54 careless carefree

  56 stays stops

  57 greasy plump and fit for killing/wealthy

  58 wherefore why

  60 invectively in violent terms

  63 mere absolute

  64 up off

  67 commenting pondering

  70 cope encounter

  71 matter ideas/material for discussion

  72 straight straight away

  Act 2 Scene 2

  2.2 Location: the court

  2 villains servants/wrongdoers

  3 sufferance acquiescence

  7 untreasured robbed/emptied of a treasure

  8 roynish coarse

  9 wont accustomed

  13 parts qualities

  17 gallant fine fellow/daring young man/ladies’ man (i.e. Orlando)

  19 suddenly immediately

  20 quail fail

  21 again back

  Act 2 Scene 3

  2.3 Location: Oliver’s household

  3 memory reminder

  4 make you are you doing

  7 fond foolish

  8 bonny priser robust prizefighter

  8 humorous temperamental

  12 more better

  13 sanctified sanctimonious, hypocritical

  14 comely fair

  15 Envenoms poisons

  23 your praises people’s praises of you

  24 use are accustomed

  25 of to do

  26 cut you off kill you

  27 practices schemes

  28 place i.e. safe place

  28 butchery slaughterhouse

  31 so so long as

  33 boist’rous massive/savage

  33 enforce gain by force

  34 common public

  38 diverted blood kinship drawn away from its natural course

  40 thrifty hire wages thriftily saved

  41 foster-nurse nurse who brings up another’s child as her own

  42 service … lame i.e. when I am too weak to work

  43 unregarded uncared for, ignored

  48 lusty vigorous

  51 unbashful forehead shameless audacity

  54 Frosty i.e. white-haired

  54 kindly pleasant/thriving

  58 constant faithful

  59 sweat i.e. worked

  59 meed reward

  62 choke … having i.e. stop working once they have gained their reward/promotion

  66 In lieu of in return for

  66 husbandry cultivation/domestic management

  67 come thy ways come on

  69 low content humble contentment

  72 fourscore eighty (four times twenty)

  75 too … week i.e. far too late

  Act 2 Scene 4

  2.4 Location: the Forest of Arden; except for one brief scene (Act 3 Scene 1) the remainder of the action takes place in various parts of the forest

  2.4 for i.e. disguised as

  2.4 alias may indicate a change of costume (see Introduction)

  1 Jupiter Roman king of the gods (Jove)

  5 weaker vessel i.e. woman

  5 doublet and hose man’s close-fitting jacket and breeches

  9 cross burden/coin (with cross stamped on it)

  14.1 Silvius from Latin for “woods”

  16 solemn serious

  26 fantasy amorous imaginings/desire

  28 heartily sincerely, from the heart

  29 folly foolishness/lewdness

  33 Wearing wearing out, wearying

  35 broke from escaped

  38 Phoebe a name for Diana/Artemis, goddess of the moon, chastity, and hunting

  39 Searching of probing

  39 wound Touchstone will shift the sense to “vagina”

  40 adventure fortune

  42 sword weapon/penis

  42 him the stone /his sword

  43 coming visiting/ejaculating

  43 a-night at night

  44 batler wooden club (for beating wet laundry)

  44 dugs teats

  44 chopt chapped

  45 milked plays on the sense of “caused to ejaculate”

  45 peascod pea pod (with genital connotations; a reversal of “codpiece”)

  46 cods pods/testicles

  47 Wear plays on the sense of “have sex with, exhaust”

  48 capers frolicsome leaps/fornications

  49 mortal subject to decay (sense then shifts to “only human”)

  50 ware aware (puns on wear; Touchstone shifts the sense to “wary”)

  51 wit possible play on “penis”

  54 upon my fashion like mine

  55 something somewhat

  55 stale may play on the sense of “prostitute”

  56 yond yonder, that

  59 clown rustic (Rosalind picks up on the sense of “jester”)

  64 even evening (i.e. afternoon)

  67 desert deserted

  67 entertainment hospitality, provisions

  70 succour help

  75 shear … graze i.e. make any profit from the sheep I tend

  77 recks cares

  79 cote cottage

  79 bounds of feed range of pasture land

  80 sheepcote building sheltering sheep (perhaps here a shepherd’s cottage)

  83 in my voice as far as I am concerned

  85 swain low-ranking man/rustic

  85 but erewhile only a while ago

  87 stand is consistent

  89 to pay i.e. money

  90 mend improve

  91 waste spend

  95 feeder servant

  96 suddenly at once

  Act 2 Scene 5

  1 greenwood leafy

  2 Who anyone who

  3 turn adapt, tune

  3 note melody

  4 throat voice

  13 ragged hoarse/harsh

  16 stanzo stanza, verse

  18 I … nothing Jaques refers to the names on a loan document of those who owe money

  22 that that which

  22 compliment etiquette

  22 th’encounter the meeting/sexual encounter

  23 dog-apes dog-faced baboons

  24 beggarly i.e. effusive

  27 end complete

  27 cover the while in the meantime lay the cloth for a meal

  29 look look for

  31 disputable argumentative

  32 matters topics

  36 i’th’sun i.e. free from care

  40 etc. indicates repeat of “no enemy / But winter and rough weather”

 
42 in … invention in spite of my poor imagination

  48 Ducdame meaning unclear; probably a nonsense word

  49 gross great/dull/coarse

  50 An if if

  52 Greek i.e. gibberish

  52 circle magic circle/circle of gaping idiots (i.e. the others, gathered around Amiens)

  53 rail rant

  53 all … Egypt in punishment for Pharaoh’s ill-treatment of the Jews, God slaughtered all first-born children and animals in Egypt, which resulted in a great lament being raised in the night

  55 banquet light meal/course of fruit, sweetmeats, and wine

  Act 2 Scene 6

  5 comfort take comfort

  6 uncouth unknown

  7 conceit imagination

  8 comfortable cheerful

  9 presently immediately/soon

  12 said done

  12 cheerly cheerful

  Act 2 Scene 7

  5 compact of jars made up of discords

  6 spheres stars and planets were thought to be contained by crystalline spheres, which produced beautiful music as they rotated

  13 motley in a professional fool’s multicolored clothing

  17 set terms roundly/in an articulate manner

  19 Call … fortune “Fortune favors fools” (proverbial)

  20 dial watch

  20 poke pocket

  23 wags goes (may pun on the sense of “moves sexually”)

  24 hour may pun on “whore”

  24 nine … eleven possibly suggestive of growing erection

  26 ripe mature/grow erect/search

  27 rot decay/detumesce/become infected with venereal disease (possibly puns on “rut”)

  28 tale puns on “tail” (i.e. “penis”)

  29 moral moralize

  30 chanticleer a cockerel

  31 deep contemplative thoughtful/familiar with sexual matters

  32 sans without

  34 wear thing worth wearing

  39 dry according to Elizabethan physiology, one with a dry brain was slow to grasp matters but sure to remember them

  39 remainder remaining

  40 places nooks and corners/topics

  41 vents expresses

  45 suit request/outfit

  46 weed puns on the sense of “clothing”

  47 rank luxuriantly, wild

  49 Withal as well

  49 charter privilege

  51 gallèd vexed, irritated

  53 way puns on why

  53 church attendance was required by law

  54 that … hit who is the target of a fool’s taunts

  55 smart feels pain

  56 senseless … bob insensible to the jest; the line is a foot short, suggesting that words may have been omitted, so some editors emend (e.g. “Not to seem senseless” or “If he seem senseless”)

  57 anatomized dissected

  58 squandering glances random jibes

  59 Invest clothe

  61 Cleanse purge medically

  64 counter worthless token used to represent a coin

  66 libertine wild, lecherous, dissolute person

  67 brutish sting animal urging of lust

 

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