The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  fill-horse horse used to draw a cart

  film gossamer

  find find out; find forth = locate

  fine sb. end; adj. refined; v. conclude; undertake to pay; make beautiful; fine and recovery = transfer of property

  fineless boundless

  firago virago, female warrior

  fire-drake meteor

  fire-new brand-new, as if fresh from the forge

  firk beat, perhaps with connotations of ‘fuck’

  firstling first offspring

  fisnomy physiognomy, face

  fit sb. spasm; section of poetry or music; v. be appropriate (for)

  fitchew polecat, known for its foul stench and sexual appetite

  fitchook seefitchew

  fitment that which is fitting; device

  fives avives, a disease in horses

  flamen ancient Roman priest

  flap-dragon small fruit, floating in liquor, set alight and swallowed as a Christmas game

  flap-jack pancake

  flatness (?) completeness; (?) unrelieved expanse

  flaunts fine clothes

  flaw sb. fragment; gust or blast of wind; outburst; v. crack, break

  fleckled spotted, blotchy

  fledge fledged

  fleer sb. sneer; v. grin, sneer

  flesh (in hunting) awaken an appetite for bloodshed

  fleshment first success

  fleur-de-luce seeflower-de-luce

  flew’d, flewed big-jowled

  flidge see fledge

  flirt-gill easy woman

  float sea

  flourish sb. fanfare; decoration; v. sound a fanfare; decorate, embellish

  flower-de-luce fleur-de-lis (iris), French heraldic device also used later by English kings

  flurted scorned

  flush ripe, full of vigour

  flushing redness caused by weeping

  flux something that flows

  fluxive flowing, fluid

  flying at the brook hunting for water-fowl with hawks

  foil sb. defeat, disgrace; complementary setting or background; v. defeat, overthrow

  foin sb. thrust of a sword; v. thrust or parry with a sword

  foison plenty, abundance

  fond adj. foolish; v. dote

  fondling foolish person

  fool jester; fool’s bolt = allusion to the proverb ‘a fool’s bolt is soon shot’; shrieve’s fool = penniless idiot in the custody of the sherrif (cf. shrieve)

  fool-begg’d so idiotic that one might request custody of it from the courts

  foot be or go on foot; kick; (of an eagle) snatch with the talons

  foot-cloth sb. horse’s decorative saddle-cloth; adj. equipped with a foot-cloth

  foot-landrakers vagabond highwaymen

  fop sb. fool; v. see fub

  foppery, fopp'ry folly, foolery; cheating, trickery

  foppish foolish

  for for lack of; for fear of

  forbid under a curse

  force strengthen; care; urge, enforce; stuff; force a straw = care a straw for; force perforce =in spite of opposition, necessarily; of force = of importance; of necessity

  fordo ruin, destroy

  fordone tired out

  forecast forethought

  fore-end earlier part

  foregone done previously

  fore-hand, forehand leading position; forehand shaft = arrow shot with the target seen above the bow hand; ’forehand sin = sin of acting prematurely

  forehorse leading horse

  fore-past previous

  foresay determine, decree

  forestall prevent, deny in advance

  foreward vanguard

  forgetive inventive

  fork snake’s tongue; arrow’s head; leg or legs (where the body forks)

  forked barbed; horned, cuckolded (cf. horn)

  formal rational, sane; conventional, regular

  former foremost

  forsake give up; deny, decline

  forslow delay

  forspent wearied, exhausted

  fortitude strength

  fortuna de la guerra the chance of war (Sp.?)

  foutre (Fr.) ruder version of ‘fig’(cf. fig)

  fox sword

  foxship qualities of a fox, supposedly ingratitude and cunning

  fracted broken

  fraction breach, estrangement, quarrel; fragment

  frame sb. systematic form; design; v. form, contrive, execute

  frampold, frampul bad- tempered, full of peevishness

  franchis’d free

  franchise freedom from servitude

  frank sb. sty for hogs; adj. generous; free from restraint; v. shut in a sty

  franklin freeholder, rich yeoman

  fraught sb. freight, cargo; adj. laden, supplied; v. burden

  fraughtage freight, cargo

  frayed frightened

  French crown French gold coin; head bald through syphilis

  frequent familiar, in company (with)

  fresh freshwater spring

  fret chafe, wear away; rot; ferment; adorn, ornament; equip with frets (see frets)

  frets ridges on a lute to guide the fingering

  fretten fretted, chafed

  friend sb. family member; lover; v. befriend; at friend, to friend friendly, as a friend

  frieze coarse cloth

  frippery old clothes shop

  friskins leapings about

  front sb. forehead, face; v. face, oppose; march in front

  frontier rampart; border fortress

  froward recalcitrant, awkward

  frush beat, hammer

  fub rob, cheat; fub off = fob off

  fullam kind of false dice

  fulsome full, abundant; foul

  fumiter the fumitory plant, a weed

  Furies mythological fiends who punished crimes

  furnishings decorations, trimmings

  furniture equipment; horse’s gear

  fury transcendental state; poetic inspiration

  fury-innocent (?) one innocent of fury

  fust become musty

  fustian sb. coarse cloth; nonsense; adj. bombastic, highflown

  fustilarian (?) fustilugs (a gross woman)

  gaberdine cloak

  gad spike; upon the gad = suddenly (as if pricked with a spike)

  gage sb. pledge, especially to fight; v. pledge, engage, bind

  gaingiving misgiving

  gainsay deny, forbid

  Galen famous Greek physician and author of medical textbooks

  gall sb. suffering; indignation; v. vex, hurt

  Gallian Gallic, French

  galliard dance punctuated by capers (little leaps)

  galliass large ship

  gallimaufry jumble, mixture

  gallow scare

  Gallowglasses axe-wielding Irish soldiers

  gallows person who will or should be hanged

  gamut musical scale

  Ganymede beautiful youth whom an enamoured Jupiter transported to heaven to be the cupbearer of the gods

  garboil uproar, disturbance

  Gargantua giant from French folklore, made famous by the work of Rabelais

  garland crown; hero

  Garmombles Evans’s version of ‘German nobles’, close to ‘geremumble’, an obscure term of abuse; with probable allusion to Count Mömpelgard, a German noble who aspired to be elected Knight of the Garter

  garnish sb. clothes; v. clothe, decorate

  gaskins wide breeches

  gastness dread; ghastliness

  gaud showy ornament, triviality

  gaudy bright, ornate, festive

  gaze thing gazed at; (in hunting) at gaze = distracted

  gear purpose; matter, business

  geck dupe

  gemini pair, as of twins

  gender sb. genus, sort; v. procreate, breed

  generosity those of noble birth

  generous of noble birth

  genitivo‘i
n the genitive case’ (Lat.)

  genius spirit, especially a person’s guardian spirit

  gentility good birth and breeding; good manners

  gentle sb. gentleman or gentlewoman; adj. noble, well bred; adv. nobly; v. ennoble

  gentry nobility; noble behaviour

  George badge of St George worn by Knights of the Order of the Garter

  german, germane sb. close relative; adj. closely related

  germen seed

  gest stage in a journey, especially a royal progress; great deed, usually chivalric

  get beget, sire

  ghasted frightened

  ghost sb. corpse; v. haunt

  gib male cat

  gift giving

  gig spinning-top

  giglet, giglot dizzy woman; strumpet

  gillyvors gillyflowers

  gimmaled made with gimmals (see gimmer)

  gimmer gimmal, mechanical joint

  gin snare, trap

  gird sb. taunt, reproof; v. sneer or scoff (at)

  glance sb. innuendo; v. rebound; make an oblique, usually disparaging, hint

  glass sb. mirror; hour-glass; glass eyes = spectacles

  glaze glare

  gleek sb. scoff, gesture of contempt; v. scoff

  glib geld, castrate

  globe head; name of Shakespeare’s theatre

  glose, gloze sb. marginal comment; superficial word-play; v. interpret or comment as if with scholastic glosses; use false, attractive language

  gloss attractive external appearance

  glut swallow hungrily

  go walk; go to = expression of scorn or disbelief (cf. go on, get away)

  goatish lecherous, as goats were supposed to be

  gobbet chunk of flesh

  God dig-you-den, God gi’ good e’en, God ’i’ good e’en, God ye good e’en, God-den, good den (God give you) good evening

  God ’ild (may) God yield (reward)

  God’s lid see ’Slid

  good good for credit, wealthy

  good dild see God ’ild

  goodly handsome

  goodman title for people below the rank of gentleman; husband

  good-year, what the exclamation of surprise

  goose tailor’s iron; short for Winchester goose (= prostitute); sore caused by veneral disease

  gorbellied bigbellied

  Gordian knot according to legend, an impossibly complex knot to be untied only by he who would go on to rule Asia; Alexander the Great cut it with his sword

  gore-blood clotted blood

  gorge vomit

  gorget throat armour

  Gorgon one of three monsters, the most famous being Medusa, whose look turned the viewer to stone

  gospell’d instructed in the precepts of the gospel

  gossip sb. godparent; merry, talkative woman; v. stand as a godparent; be merry in company

  gourd kind of false dice

  gout drop of liquid

  government self-discipline, self- control; in government = under control

  graceful blessed; favourable

  graff, graft sb. grafted (i.e. hybrid) plant; v. graft, cross- breed by implanting a shoot into a plant of a different kind

  grafter plant from which the shoot is taken for grafting (see graff)

  grain, in fast dyed, ingrained; purple-in-grain = red

  grained ingrained; bearing or displaying the grains found in timber

  gramercy great thanks

  grand guard heavy armour worn on horseback

  grange farm house sometimes belonging to a religious estabishment

  grate vex, annoy

  grateful pleasing

  gratify reward; make pleasant

  gratulate adj. gratifying; v. greet; gratify, satisfy

  grave bury, entomb; carve, engrave

  greasily obscenely

  great morning broad daylight

  ’gree agree

  greeing suitable

  Greek reveller, person with relaxed moral standards

  Greensleeves popular English ballad about an inconstant woman

  grievance distress, trauma

  grieve sorrow; offend

  gripe sb. clutch; vulture or eagle; v. grip, clutch

  grise, grize stair, step

  groat coin; ten groats = an attorney’s fee

  ground (in heraldry) coloured background; (in music) air on which variations are sung or played

  groundlings theatregoers who stood in front of the stage

  ground-piece (?) exemplary painting

  grow (of a sum of money) grow due; grow to a point = come to a stop; grow upon = encroach on

  guardant guard; Jack guardant = petty official (cf. Jack)

  guards trimmings of a garment; stars in the Ursa Minor constellation used for navigation

  guidon pennant, flag

  guilder gold coin

  guiled deceitful, full of guile

  guinea-hen (?) cunning woman; (?) prostitute

  guise usual practice

  gules (in heraldry) red

  gull sb. nestling; credulous fool; hoax; v. trick, fool

  gummed treated with gum, glossy

  gurnet small fish considered a delicacy

  gust sb. taste, appetite; v. get a taste of, realize

  Guy, Sir Guy of Warwick, hero of an early English romance

  gyve sb. fetter; v. fetter

  H letter of the alphabet pronounced ‘aitch’, so sounding like the Elizabethan pronunciation of the word ‘ache’

  habiliment attire, dress

  habit clothing, garments; bearing, disposition

  habited dressed

  habitude character, disposition

  hack (?) associate with loose women

  hackney prostitute

  hade land part of the field where the plough turns around, and so planted last

  haggard sb. wild hawk; adj. wild

  haggled hacked

  hag-seed offspring of a hag

  hair sort, kind, nature; against the hair = against the grain

  halberd battle-axe on a long pole; one armed with a halberd

  halcyon kingfisher, supposed when hung up to turn its beak with the wind; halcyon’s days = period of calm

  half partner, wife

  half-blooded having only one parent of noble blood

  half-caps caps taken only half off, slight salutations

  half-cheek profile

  half-cheeked (of a horse’s bit) giving insufficient control

  half-face profile

  half-faced showing a face in profile; pinched-faced

  half-kirtle skirt portion of a kirtle (see kirtle)

  half-sword very close quarters

  halidom state of being holy; anything regarded as holy

  halloo, hallow call, shout

  Hallowmas All Saints’ Day (1 November)

  hand-fast custody; marriage contract

  handsaw small saw; (?) heron

  handy-dandy take your choice (from a children’s game)

  hanger straps attaching the sword to the girdle

  haply by chance

  happiness handsomeness

  harbinger one who runs on ahead

  hard-haired with tightly curled hair

  hardiment valour; deeds of valour

  hardness difficulty

  harlot sb. person of loose life; beggar; adj. lewd

  harlotry good-for-nothing

  Harry ten shillings half-sovereign coined under Henry VII

  hatch lower half of a divided door

  hatchment tablet displaying a coat of arms

  haud credo‘I do not believe’ (Lat.)

  haught haughty, arrogant

  haughty high-pitched, ambitious

  hautboy oboe

  havoc signal for indiscriminate slaughter

  hay country dance; (in fencing) thrust reaching the antagonist

  hazard sb. dice game; risk; stake; v. risk

  head sb. headland, promontory; subdivisi
on; armed force, advance; v. behead; head and front = height

  headstall part of the bridle that fits round the head

  heady-rash impetuously violent

  heap great company, crowd; on a heap = prostrate

  heavy serious, grievous; sad; tiresome

  hebenon poison

  Hecate goddess of witchcraft

  hectic fever

  Hector Trojan hero

  Hecuba Queen of Troy

  hedge-pig hedgehog

  hefts heavings, retchings

  hempseed one deserving to be hanged

  hent sb. seized opportunity; v. seize; reach

  herb of grace rue

  herblet small herb

  Hercules legendary hero, supposedly a kinsman of Theseus; Hercules and his load = Hercules bearing the world on his shoulders, perhaps the sign at the Globe Theatre

  Hero lover of Leander (see Leander)

  Herod biblical tyrant

  he’s he shall

  Hesperus the planet Venus

  hest behest, command

  hey-day, heyday exclamation of surprise or joy

  Hic et ubique‘Here and everywhere’ (Lat.)

  Hic ibat Simois, hic est Sigeia tellus, / Hic steterat Priami regia celsa senis ‘Here ran the river Simois; here is the Sigeian land; here stood old Priam’s lofty palace’ (Lat., Ovid)

  hic jacet‘here lies’ (Lat.)

  Hiems Winter

  high and low false dice

  high-day see hey-day

  high-lone alone, without support

  high-proof in the highest degree

  high-stomached high-spirited, haughty, stubborn

  hight is called

  hild held

  hilding contemptible person of either sex, coward

  hind female deer; rustic servant; boor

  hint occasion, opportunity

  hipped having a dislocated hip- bone

  Hiren seductive woman (from the name of a character in a play by Peele)

  hit agree; hit of = hit on

  hive hat

  hoar adj. mouldy; whitish; v. become mouldy; whiten (with disease)

  hobby-horse character in the morris-dance; buffoon; loose woman

  hodge-pudding pudding or sausage made of hodge (pigs’ entrails)

  holding consistency; refrain of a song

  holidame see halidom

  holp helped

  holy-ales rural festivals on saints’ days

  holy-rood day feast of the Holy Cross (14 September)

  holy-thistle see carduus benedictus

  home thoroughly

  honest worthy, decent; truthful; chaste

  honesty uprightness, decency; chastity; generosity

  honey-stalks clover flowers

  honorificabilitudinitatibus stock comic example of a long (Latin) word

  honour honourable deed

  hood (of a hawk) blindfold

  hoodman-blind blind man’s buff

  horn deer; sign of a cuckold