The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  attaint sb. disgrace; infection; weariness; v. condemn; stain

  attasked taken to task

  attribute esteem, character, reputation

  attribution praise

  aught anything

  aunt old woman, crony; female beggar; prostitute

  auricular relating to the ear, heard

  avise advise

  avoid leave; expel, get rid of; (in law) invalidate

  awkward oblique, adverse

  baby girl’s doll

  baccare stand back (pseudo-Lat.)

  back saddle or ride (a horse)

  back-friend false friend; police officer

  backsword man fencer (backsword = single-stick, used in fencing)

  back-trick backward step in dancing

  baffle (of a knight) publicly disgrace

  bait sb. light meal; v. harrass, terrorize, as with dogs; offer bait to, tempt, lure

  baldrick belt, girdle

  bale sorrow, misfortune

  balk miss; lay up; balk logic = chop logic

  baille bring (Fr.)

  ban sb. curse; v. curse

  Banbury cheese proverbially thin cheese

  ban-dog fierce dog

  bandy toss, exchange; contend, brawl

  bane poison; death, destruction

  bank sb. shore; v. sail along the shore

  banquet light refreshment; running banquet = light refreshment; whipping

  Barbary breed of horse

  Barbason a devil

  barbed (of a horse) armed

  barber-monger someone always at the barber’s shop, vain person

  barful full of difficulties

  bark sb. ship; v. strip bark from

  barley-break rustic chasing game in which the base was called ‘hell’

  barm yeast, head of froth

  barne child

  barnacle shellfish supposed to metamorphose into a goose

  Barrabas murderer whose release from prison the Jews demanded instead of Christ’s

  Barson Barston or Barcheston (Warwickshire towns)

  Bartholomew boar-pig roast pig eaten at Bartholomew Fair (see Bartholomew-tide)

  Bartholomew-tide St Bartholomew’s day (24 August), date of a popular fair

  Basan biblical mountain famous for its bulls

  base a chasing game; bid a base = challenge to a chase

  base-court lower courtyard

  bases knight’s pleated skirt

  Basilisco-like like Basilisco, a boastful knight in the play Soliman and Perseda (1592)

  basilisk cockatrice(see cockatrice); large cannon

  bass-viol stringed instrument, an early cello

  basta enough (Ital.)

  bastard sweet wine from Spain

  bastinado cudgelling, hefty wallop

  bate sb. strife; v. flutter the wings; abate, diminish; let off; lose; modify

  bate-breeding mischief-making

  bateless sharp

  bat-fowling bird-catching at night by means of a strong light and sticks

  batler paddle used to beat clothes being washed

  batten gorge and grow fat

  bauble toy, thing of trifling value; fool; fool’s stick

  baubling like a bauble, trifling

  bavian baboon

  bavin brushwood

  bawcock fine chap

  bawd hare; pimp

  bay sb. space under the gable of a building; barking; adj.(of horses) reddish brown; v. chase with barking; trap, corner; at bay = cornered

  bays poet’s laurel wreath

  beached of the beach

  beachy see beached

  beadle parish constable

  beadsman person hired to pray for others

  beam large piece of wood, mentioned by Christ as a metaphor for grave sinfulness (Matt. vii.3-5; Luke vi.41-2) (cf. mote)

  bear win; bear in hand = lead on, deceive

  bear-herd, bearherd see bearward

  bearing-cloth cloth in which a child was carried to be christened

  bearward bear-keeper

  beated beaten

  beaver helmet’s visor

  beck sb. beckoning; v. beckon

  become be appropriate for, suit

  bedded lying down

  Bedlam hospital for the insane

  bedlam sb. insane person; adj. insane, frantic

  bed-swerver adulterous person

  beest the unpalatable milk of a cow that has just given birth

  beetle sb. sledge-hammer; v. jut out

  beldam grandmother; crone

  be-leed left without wind, high and dry

  bell, book, and candle formula used in the ceremony of excommunication

  Bellona goddess of war

  bell-wether sheep at the head of a flock

  belock’d locked

  bemadding causing madness

  be-met met

  bemete measure out

  bemoiled covered with dirt

  be-monster make hideous

  bench sb. authority; v. raise to or occupy a position of authority

  bench-hole hole in a privy

  bend sb. look; obeisance; knot; v. turn; crease; tense

  benetted netted, trapped

  benevolence obligatory loan to the sovereign

  benison blessing

  bent limit, strain; direction, disposition; arch; sight

  berayed stained, sullied

  Bergomask from Bergamo in Italy, rustic

  Bermoothes Bermudas

  beshrew curse

  besom brush, broom

  Besonian ignoramus, beggarly person

  besort sb. appropriate company; v. be appropriate for

  beteem grant, allow

  betid happened

  betime soon, early

  bevel oblique, zigzag

  Bevis Bevis of Southampton, a legendary hero renowned for feats of arms

  bewray betray, reveal, divulge

  bezonian see Besonian

  bias adj. convex; adv. crookedly; of bias = oblique, roundabout

  bias-drawing deceit

  bide stay, linger; endure

  bifold twofold

  bigamy marriage with someone previously married

  biggen coarse nightcap

  bilbo sword with a flexible blade

  bilboes shackles used for prisoners on a ship

  bill pike or halberd, painted brown to prevent rust; officer carrying a bill; written note; notice

  bird-bolt flat-headed arrow for shooting birds

  birding-piece gun for shooting birds

  bis coctus cooked twice (Lat.)

  bisson blind; obscuring the sight

  bite the thumb make an insulting gesture

  bitumed smeared with bitumen, made watertight

  Black-Monday Easter Monday

  blame blameworthy (in the phrase ‘too blame’)

  blank sb. range, focus, target; v. make pale, drain of colour; blank charter = blank cheque

  blastment blight

  blazon sb. coat of arms; proclamation; description; v. proclaim; describe

  blear dim or blur, especially with weeping

  blench sb. sidelong glance; v. flinch, turn aside

  blind-worm slow-worm

  blister’d, blistered padded

  block mould for shaping a hat; mounting-block (for mounting horses)

  blood family; gallant man; character, disposition; appetite, passion; in blood = active, healthy

  blood-bolter’d having hair caked and matted with blood

  blood-sized glazed with blood (cf.size)

  blow swell; (of plants) blossom; (of flies) lay eggs (on); blow wind i’th’ breech = be unable to keep pace (with); break wind

  blowse stocky, rosy-cheeked girl

  blubbered with tear-stained face

  bluebottle beadle, parish constable

  blue-cap Scot

  blurt scoff

  board draw up alongside; attack

  bob sb. jest; v. beat; cheat, diddle<
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  bodement foreboding

  bodkin short dagger; hair-pin; God’s bodkin = by the Eucharist (God’s little body) (an oath)

  bodykins seebodkin (God’s bodkin)

  boggle take fright, swerve uncertainly

  bolins bow-lines on a ship

  boll’n swollen

  bolt sb. arrow; shackle; v. sift, refine; shackle

  bolter cloth for sifting meal

  bolting-hutch sifting-bin

  bombard wine vessel

  bombast sb. cotton padding; adj. padded; bombastic, verbally over-elaborate

  bona terra, mala gens a good land but bad people (Lat.)

  bona-roba better class of prostitute (Ital.)

  bones rustic musical instrument accompanied by bells or tongs; bone bobbins for lace-making

  book-man scholar

  boot sb. booty, spoil; something extra; advantage, help; v. give as something extra; help; give the boots = make a laughing-stock of

  boot-hose long over-stocking

  bootless useless, pointless

  Boreas north wind

  borrow sb. loan; v. take, adopt

  borrowed taken, feigned, not genuine

  bosky shrubby, woody

  botcher one who patches old clothes

  botchy carbuncular, ulcerous

  bots maggot infection in horses

  bottom sb. valley; ship’s hold, ship; bobbin for winding thread; v. wind

  bought and sold tricked, betrayed

  bounce bang

  bounden bound, obliged

  bourn limit; burn, brook

  bow-hand left-hand side of an archer

  boy endow with the characteristics of a boy

  brabble brawl

  brace pair; armour to protect the arm; defensive position

  brach bitch-hound

  bragless without bragging

  braid adj. false, deceitful v. upbraid, reproach

  brainish deluded, frenzied

  brain-pan skull

  brake clump of bushes

  branched bearing a pattern of leafy branches

  brave sb. vaunt, boast; adj. fine, admirable; finely dressed; fearless, insolent; v. make brave, adorn; defy; brave it = swagger

  bravery finery; flamboyance; defiant attitude

  brawl French dance

  brawn fattened boar; arm or leg muscle

  break break up, disband; communicate; discipline; break across, break cross = (of a knight’s lance) break awkwardly or unfairly; break up = open

  break-neck disaster

  breast singing voice

  breathe talk, talk of; train, condition, accustom; allow to take a breath

  breathing voice; excercise, activity; interval

  breech breeches, trousers; i’th’ breech on = behind, following breed-bate trouble-maker (cf. bate)

  breese, breeze gadfly

  brewage brew

  Briareus giant with a hundred arms and fifty heads

  bribed (?) stolen; (?) obtained through bribery

  bride-house house where a wedding takes place

  brief sb. letter; list, summary; brief in hand = in need of attention

  brinded patterned with streaks

  bring off rescue

  broach pierce; tap

  brock badger

  brogues heavy shoes

  broke trade

  broken fragmented; missing teeth; broken music = music played by instruments of different families

  broker go-between, pimp

  brooch sb. ornament; v. decorate

  brooded brooding

  Brownist member of an English Puritan sect founded by Robert Browne

  bruit sb. rumour; v. announce, report bubuncle Fluellen’s confusion of ‘bubo’ (Lat.= ‘abscess’) and ‘carbuncle’

  buck stag; linen in the wash; buck of the first head = fully grown stag

  bucking laundry

  buckler sb. shield; v. protect, shield; give the bucklers = acknowledge defeat

  Bucklersbury London street known for its apothecaries

  buckram tough, stiff linen

  buck-washing washing of linen

  budget tinker’s bag

  buff hard-wearing leather worn by constables

  bug bugbear, bogeyman

  bugle black glass bead

  bulk display stall at the front of a shop

  bully fine man, friend

  bum-baily bailiff

  bung pickpocket

  burden load; undersong; refrain; at a burden = at one birth

  burgonet close-fitting helmet

  burn heat up; light up; burn daylight = waste time

  burthen see burden

  buss sb. kiss; v. kiss

  buttery bar hatch of a buttery (store room) where beer was served

  butt-shaft strong, heavy arrow

  buzzard insect; fool

  by and by immediately; in due course

  by-drinkings drinks between meals

  by-peeping glancing sidelong

  by’r lady by our Lady (an oath)

  by’r lakin, byrlakin by our little Lady (an oath)

  cabin sb. hut; den, cave; v. dwell, rest

  cabinet small lodging

  cacodemon malignant spirit

  caddis ribbon for a garter

  cade large barrel

  cadent falling

  Cadmus legendary founder of Thebes

  caduceus Mercury’s staff, wound about with two serpents

  cage prison

  Cain son of Adam and Eve, who murdered his brother Abel; Cain-coloured = red, the imagined colour of Cain’s beard

  caitiff, caitive sb. wretch; adj. captive; wretched

  cake (of roses) compressed block used as perfume; cake is dough = plan has failed

  calculate forecast by means of a horoscope; speculate upon the future

  Caleno custore me Elizabethan version of ‘cailin og a’ stor’, the refrain of a popular Irish song, for Pistol a specimen of an incomprehensible foreign language

  Calipolis character in Peele’s Battle of Alcazar (1594), there presented with a lioness to eat

  caliver light musket

  calkins parts of a horse-shoe

  call decoy

  callat, callet slut

  Cambyses a Persian king, subject of an early Elizabethan tragedy

  can began

  canary wine from the Canaries; Spanish dance

  candidatus‘clad in a white robe’, hence candidate (Lat.)

  candied frosted, as if with sugar

  candle-mine load of tallow

  candle-waster book-worm

  canker sore; wild rose; parasitic caterpillar

  cannikin small drinking can

  canon Church law, hence law, edict

  cantle segment of a circle

  canton song

  canvas, canvass toss about

  canzonet canzonetta, short song

  capable responsive, appreciative; capacious; qualified to inherit

  capacity mental capacity, mind

  cap-a-pe, cap-à-pe‘head to foot’ (OldFr.)

  capital mortal, fatal; chief, main

  Capitol temple of Jupiter in Rome

  capitulate come to terms

  capocchia fool, simple person (Ital.)

  capriccio caprice, fancy (Ital.)

  captious capacious; deceitful

  car cart, chariot

  caract official marking

  carbonado sb. fish or meat scored and grilled; v. score, slash

  carcanet jewelled necklace

  card sb. playing card; toothed instrument for combing out wool; compass; model; v. adulterate, dilute; by the card = correctly; card of ten = playing card worth ten points; cooling card = playing card that dashes an opponent’s hopes; pack cards with = shuffle playing cards in favour of

  cardecue small French coin (quart d’écu)

  cardinally Elbow’s word for ‘carnally’

  cardmaker maker of cards for wool (seecard)

  ca
rduus benedictus‘holy thistle’ (Lat.), a plant credited with healing properties

  caret‘it is missing’ (Lat.); interpreted by Quickly as ‘carrot’ (penis)

  carl churl, rustic person

  carlot rustic person

  carnation rosy-pink

  carpet sb. cover for chests and tables; on carpet consideration = at court rather than on the battle-field

  carpet-monger knight more at home at court than in battle

  carrack galleon, treasure ship

  carriage carrying; ability to carry; conduct; deportment; purport

  carry coals endure insults without retaliation

  carry out a side fulfil a side of an agreement

  carry-tale spy

  carve v. compliment; be one’s own carver, carve for oneself = be independent

  case sb. question; body, skin or clothes; v. clothe, mask; skin; in case = in a position or mood; on the case = for some particular offence

  cashiered discarded; (?) robbed

  cast adj. cast off; v. vomit; discharge; examine; calculate; cast the gorge = vomit

  casted seecast (adj.)

  Castiliano vulgo Sir Toby’s attempt to refer in Spanish and (?) Latin to (?) wine, (?) the devil

  casual accidental; subject to misfortune

  cat o’ mountain, cat-a-mountain leopard

  Cataian Cathaian (Chinese), used insultingly

  cataplasm plaster

  catastrophe final phase of action in classical drama

  catch tune for several voices

  cater-cousins close friends

  caterpillar parasite

  cates choice provisions, delicacies

  catling catgut for stringed instruments

  cautel wile, deception

  cautelous deceitful

  censer ornamental vessel for burning perfume

  censure sb. judgement; opinion; v. judge; express an opinion

  centre the earth’s mid-point

  century one hundred soldiers

  Cerberus three-headed dog at the gate of the underworld, fought with by Hercules and charmed to sleep by Orpheus

  cerecloth shroud

  cerements shroud

  Ceres goddess of agriculture and plenty

  ’cerns concerns

  certes truly

  cess ceasing, decease; out of cess = excessively

  cesse cease

  chair-days time of rest

  chairs of order stalls in St George’s Chapel, Windsor, for the Knights of the Order of the Garter

  challenge sb. claim; legal objection; v. claim as due

  chamberer wooer

  chamber-lye urine

  chambers small cannon

  chamblet rich cloth of silk and goat’s hair

  champaign open countryside

  champion challenge to fight

  changeling turncoat; fairy child swapped for a human one (or vice versa)

  chanson song

  chanticleer cock

  chape metal cap on the end of a scabbard