The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  diapason bass accompaniment to a melody

  diaper towel

  dich (?) do it

  Dickon Dick (Richard)

  Dido Queen of Carthage, loved and abandoned by Aeneas (seeAeneas)

  diet sb. prescribed course; food; v. prescribe a course for, condition

  difference distinguishing mark in heraldry; distinction; variety; variance, strife

  diffidence doubt, mistrust

  digression deviation (from right)

  dilate extend; relate or set out extensively

  dildo artificial phallus, frequently mentioned in ballads

  dilemma argument which always catches an opponent out

  diluculo surgere‘to rise early [is very healthy]’ (Lat., proverbial)

  dint impression, force

  directitude mistake for (?) discreditude (disrepute); (?) dejectitude (misfortune)

  Dis Pluto (seePluto)

  disable disqualify, disparage

  disanimate dishearten

  disappointed unprepared

  disaster sign of ill-omen, as seen in the stars

  disbranch break off, as from a tree trunk

  discandy melt, thaw (cf.candied)

  discase undress (cf.case)

  discernings intellect

  discomfortable having no word of comfort

  discommend disapprove of

  discontent discontented person, malcontent

  discourse sb. talk, conversation; process or faculty of reasoning; v. talk

  discover expose, reveal; distinguish

  discovery revelation; exploration, reconnaissance

  disdained disdainful

  disease sb. unease, distress; v. make uneasy, trouble

  disedg’d satisfied, with respect to appetite

  disfurnish deprive, leave with nothing

  disgracious lacking grace, unpleasant

  disguise masque; wild drunkenness

  dishabited dislodged, stripped

  dishonest immodest

  dishonesty unchastity

  dislike displease; disapprove

  disliken disguise

  dislimn break up, smudge

  disme tenth part

  dismission dismissal

  dismount (of swords) unsheathe; (of guns) lower

  disorbed dislocated from its sphere

  dispark put (parkland) to other uses

  dispatch settle, conclude; kill; bereave, deprive

  dispiteous merciless

  disponge be sponged, drip

  dispose sb. disposal; disposition; v. compose, make terms

  disposer one who can do what he or she will with another

  disposition arrangements

  dispropertied dispossessed

  dispursed disbursed, distributed

  disputable disputatious, argumentative

  dissembly Dogberry’s word for ‘assembly’

  distain make colourless; stain, defile

  distance (in fencing) correct space between the opponents

  distaste be distasteful; make distasteful; find distasteful

  distemper sb. lack of even temper, lack of balance; v. upset, disturb

  distemperature constitutional disorder in the mind or body

  distinctly separately, individually

  distinguishment distinction

  distract adj. separate; deranged, confused; v. divide; derange, confuse

  distrain confiscate

  distressful gained by misery and toil

  dive-dapper dabchick, little grebe

  divers several, various, different; perverse, evil

  dividant separable, different

  divided unfinished, broken

  dividual separable

  division musical notes that elaborate upon a basic melody; military arrangement

  divulge openly proclaim

  do him dead kill him

  doctrine lesson

  document lesson

  doff take off; put off, dismiss

  dog-apes baboons

  dogged dog-like, cruel

  doit small coin

  dole grief; share; happy man be his dole = may his lot be that of a happy man (i.e. good luck to him)

  dollar silver coin

  domineer revel, feast

  dominical red letter used to mark Sundays in almanacs

  dominie schoolmaster

  doom sb. judgement; day of judgement; v. judge, sentence

  dotant senile person

  double voucher testimony given by two independent parties

  double-fatal fatal in two ways, as with the yew which was both poisonous and used for making bows

  double-man supernatural apparition

  doublet and hose vest and breeches (basic Elizabethan male dress)

  doubt sb. suspicion; fear; v. suspect; fear

  dout extinguish

  dowlas coarse linen from Brittany

  dowl one of the filaments or fibres of a feather

  down-gyved fallen down and resembling gyves (fetters)

  down-roping falling in long strings

  dowsets testicles

  doxy female beggar

  drab strumpet

  drachma silver coin

  draff pig-swill

  draught sink, privy

  draw withdraw; receive; drain; draw dry-foot = hunt by the scent

  drawer tapster, waiter

  dress prepare; adorn, cultivate

  dribbling (in archery) weakly shot, ineffective

  drift sb. intention, purpose; shower; adj. driving

  drollery puppet show; comic painting

  drum rallying-point

  drumble be sluggish, lag

  dry-beat bruise, beat

  ducat gold coin

  ducdame ostensibly nonsense but possibly Cymric (‘Come to me’) or Italian (‘Lead him from me’)

  dudgeon haft, handle

  due endue, grace

  duello correct practice of duelling (Ital.)

  dumb-discoursive quietly seductive

  dump tune, usually melancholy

  dumps low spirits

  dun sb. horse; log dragged out of an imaginary mire as a Christmas game; adj. dull grey- brown; dun’s the mouse = be still

  dung earth, the physical world

  dupp’d opened

  durance durable cloth or nature; imprisonment

  each, at end to end

  eager sharp, bitter

  ean (of sheep) give birth

  eanling new-born lamb

  ear v. hear; plough; by th’ears = at odds; in the ear = in earshot; shake your ears = behave like the ass you are

  earing ploughing

  earn grieve

  earnest initial payment of money as a deposit

  earthed laid in a grave

  easy easily won over; small, light

  eche augment, increase

  ecstasy deranged mental state; unconsciousness

  Edward shovel-board shilling from the reign of Edward VI later used in shovel-board (see shove-groat)

  effectual conclusive

  effigies likeness

  effuse effusion

  eftest Dogberry’s word for ‘aptest’

  eftsoons afterwards

  egall equal

  egg worthless thing or person

  egma Costard’s word for ‘enigma’

  Ego et Rex meus I and my king (Lat.)

  egregious outstanding, remarkable

  eisel, eisell vinegar

  eke also

  elbow thrust back; rub the elbow = express pleasure

  eld old age; people of a previous time

  elder-gun pop-gun used for firing paper pellets

  elect sb. people specially chosen; v. choose, accept

  element one of the four universal substances (earth, water, air, fire); sky

  elf sb. fairy, spirit; v. tangle or mat together

  elf-locks hair tangled or matted together

  Elizium, Elysium abode of the virtuous after death in the
ancient world

  elm tree used to train vines

  emballing taking up the orb, a symbol of royalty

  embare make bare

  embarquements embargos, hindrances

  embattail, embattle prepare for battle

  embayed sheltered in a bay

  emblaze set forth, as in heraldry

  embossed hunted down, exhausted; bulging, swollen

  embounded enclosed

  embowel disembowel

  embrasure embrace

  eminence superiority, high rank

  Emmanuel‘God with us’, formula used to begin letters and documents

  empale surround, encircle

  empatron be patron to

  emperial imperial

  empery empire, sovereignty

  empiric quack doctor

  empiricutic characteristic of quack medicine

  emulation envious rivalry

  emulator petty rival, disparager

  emulous envious

  enciel’d screened

  encompassment roundabout course

  enew (in falconry) drive (the bird) into water

  enfeoff surrender (property)

  engage bind; pledge as security

  engine plot, device; instrument; military machine

  engineer, enginer military engineer, sapper

  englut devour

  engraffed, engrafted attached; ingrained

  engross fatten; amass, gather; monopolize; write large

  enlard fatten

  enlarge set free

  enlargement liberty; liberation

  enormous monstrous

  enow enough

  enround encircle

  ensconce hide, tuck away

  enseamed greasy (cf.seam)

  ensear dry up, wither

  enskied placed in heaven

  ensteeped under water

  entertain sb. entertainment; v. treat; employ; maintain

  entertainment treatment; employment

  entitled, entituled called; having a claim

  entreat sb. entertainment; v. negotiate, ask; treat

  entreatment negotiation

  envy sb. malice, spite; v. bear ill will towards

  enwheel encircle

  Ephesian revelling companion

  epicurism gluttony

  epithet, epitheton adjective, expression

  equal balanced, just, fair

  equinox time of the year when day and night are of equal length

  Ercles Hercules (seeHercules)

  Erebus place of darkness on the way to the underworld

  erection Quickly’s word for

  ‘direction’ (instruction)

  ergo therefore (Lat.)

  eringo root of the sea-holly, a delicacy and aphrodisiac

  erst once, formerly

  escot provide for

  esperance hope; the motto of the Percy family

  espial spy

  essay seeassay

  estimable esteemed, valuable; esteeming, admiring

  estimation rate of esteem, worth; esteemed or valued object; reputation; valuation

  estridge ostrich; goshawk

  Et bonum quo antiquius eo melius ‘And the older a good thing is, the better it is’ (Lat., proverbial)

  eternize immortalize

  Europa daughter of Agenor and loved by Jupiter, who transformed himself into a bull and carried her off to Crete

  even sb. the level truth; v. make even; keep up with; even o’er = make sense of; go even = agree

  even-Christen fellow Christians

  event outcome

  ever always; not ever = not always; ever among = all the while

  Evil, the the King’s Evil (scrofula), supposed to be cured by the King’s touch

  evil (?) privy; (?) brothel

  evitate avoid

  exactly expressly

  examine question

  except take exception to; set aside; except, before excepted = legal phrase common in leases (i.e. ‘with the aforesaid exceptions’)

  exception disapproval, objection

  excitement exhortation

  exclaim exclamation, outcry

  exclamation reproach

  excrement outgrowth from the body, particularly hair

  excursion (in stage directions) skirmish

  exempt separated, far away

  exequies funeral ceremonies

  exercise devotional exercise; homily

  exhalation meteor, falling star

  exhale draw out

  exhaust draw out, elicit

  exhibit submit, introduce; Gobbo’s word for ‘inhibit’

  exhibition gift; allowance, maintenance; Verges’ word for ‘commission’ (authority)

  exigent critical moment

  exion Quickly’s word for ‘action’

  exorcise conjure up evil spirits

  expectancy expectation, hope

  expedience speed, expedition

  expedient swift

  expense expenditure

  experimental of experience

  expiate adj. terminated; v. extinguish

  expostulate discuss, inquire into, argue

  exposture exposure

  express adj. well formed, well executed; v. show forth, make known

  expressure expression; impression

  exsufflicate (?) inflated, far- fetched

  extemporal extempore

  extend seize in satisfaction for a debt

  extent behaviour; exercise; seizure (cf.extend)

  extenuate mitigate, weaken the force of

  extirp extirpate, root out

  extracting drawing everything else away with it, absorbing

  extraught extracted, derived

  extravagancy vagrancy

  extravagant straying beyond its proper bounds, vagrant

  eyases young hawks, noted for their clamour

  eyas-musket young sparrow- hawk

  eye sb. spot; hole in a bowling ball; v. appear; in the eye = in sight

  eye-glass lens of the eye

  eye-strings muscles or tendons of the eye

  eyne eyes

  eyrie nest of a bird of prey

  face sb. outward show; v.(of garments) trim with braid or velvet; bully; deceive; (in cards) call an opponent’s bluff; face down = swear blind; face out = brazen out, intimidate, bluff

  face-royal head depicted on a coin

  Facile precor gelida quando pecus omne sub umbra Ruminat Holofernes’s misquotation from a pastoral poem by Mantuanus (Lat.= ‘[Faustus], I pray, while all the herd chews the cud in the cold shade …’)

  facinerious facinorous, wicked

  fact deed, crime; in the fact = red-handed

  factious of or forming a faction, rebellious

  factor agent, representative

  faculty power; quality, nature

  fadge turn out, succeed

  fading word used in contemporary songs

  fail sb. failure; failure to produce a son; death; v. fail in; die

  fain adj. glad, well pleased, content; adv. gladly

  fairings gifts bought at a fair

  faithed believed

  falchion curved broadsword

  fall sb. cadence in music; v. let fall, bring down; befall; happen, turn out; waste away; at fall = at ebb; fall from = desert; fall off = revolt

  falling-sickness epilepsy

  falsing deceptive

  fame sb. public image or opinion; v. make famous

  familiar sb. spirit or demon; close friend; adj. native, accustomed

  fan sift (e.g. grain) by means of an air current

  fanatical frantic, outlandish

  fancy sb. love; short piece of poetry or music, fantasia; v. love

  fancy-free free from love

  fancy-monger dealer in love

  fangled pretentiously fashionable

  fantastic sb. person given to flights of fancy; fop, gallant; adj. of the mind; given to or produced by extravagant flights of fancy, crazy
<
br />   fantastical seefantastic (adj.)

  fantasy imagination; imagining, fancy; self-delusion

  fap drunk

  farborough Sly’s word for ‘thirdborough’ (seethirdborough)

  farce stuff

  fardel pack

  fare travel; feed; be, feel

  far-fet far-fetched, highly cunning

  farm rent; lease out profits from taxes in return for an immediate sum of cash; in farm = leased out

  farrow pigs of a litter

  farthingale petticoat stretched over whalebone hoops

  fashions farcy, a disease in horses

  fat stuffy; (?) sweating

  Fates three deities who span the threads of human lives

  fatigate fatigued, weary

  faucet-seller seller of taps for wine-barrels

  fault sin; misfortune; (in hunting) lost or ‘cold’ scent; for fault of = for want of

  favour appearance, face, feature; charm; token of good will

  fay faith

  fazed tattered, frayed

  feat adj. graceful; adv. gracefully, neatly; v.(?) make or render graceful

  feature appearance of the body

  federary seefeodary

  fee livestock; estate of a feudal lord; reward for services to a lord; in fee = outright; in fee- farm = permanent

  feeder servant; parasite

  fee-grief particular grief, suggesting a large estate rented by a single tenant (cf.fee)

  feeze beat

  felicitate made happy

  fell sb. skin, fleece; adj. terrible, savage

  fellies parts of a wheel that form the rim

  fence sb. defence; swordsmanship; v. shut in, defend

  feodary confederate

  fere companion; husband or wife

  fern-seed seed supposed both to possess and to impart invisibility

  ferret torment; search thoroughly

  ferula teacher’s cane for beating

  fescue teacher’s stick for pointing

  festinate hurried, hasty

  fetch sb. trick, evasion; v. make; strike; fetch about = change tack; fetch in = surround, catch; fetch off = rescue; get the better of, kill

  fettle groom, prepare

  few, in in short

  fewness and truth the truth in short

  fia seevia

  fico fig (Ital.) (seefig)

  fidelicet Evans’s word for ‘videlicet’ (seevidelicet)

  field-bed camp bed

  fielded in the battle field

  fifteens fifteenths (seefifteenth)

  fifteenth tax of one-fifteenth levied on personal property

  fig sb. contemptuous exclamation; obscene gesture sometimes called the ‘fig of Spain’; v. make the ‘fig’ gesture

  fights protective screens used on warships

  fig’s-end seefig

  figure sb. numeral or letter; esoteric diagram; rhetorical device; imagining; v. express, represent; imagine

  file sb. body of men, especially soldiers; list; v. defile; keep pace, as in marching