The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  poach, to thrust, stab

  point, highest point, conclusion, lace with tags (for attaching hose to doublet, etc.), full stop

  poking-stick, rod used for pleating ruffs

  polecat, prostitute

  policy, government, administration, prudence in managing public or private affairs, cunning, craftiness, trick

  politic, dealing with government and administration, crafty

  politician, schemer, scheming statesman

  pomewater, large juicy kind of apple

  pomp, procession, pageant

  Pontic sea, Black Sea

  poop, swamp, overwhelm

  poor-john, salted fish

  popular, plebeian, vulgar

  popularity, common pledge

  porridge, porrage, soup

  porringer, basin

  port, gate, bearing, style of living

  portable, bearable, endurable

  portage, portholes

  portance, behaviour

  posied, inscribed with a motto

  possess, inform, acquaint

  posset, drink of hot milk curdled with ale or wine; curdle, thicken

  post, post set up for notices, etc., doorpost on which tavern reckoning was kept, courier, messenger, post-horse; to hasten, carry swiftly

  poster, swift traveller

  posy, motto inscribed inside a ring

  potable, able to be drunk

  potato, sweet potato, supposedly aphrodisiac

  potency, power, authority

  potent, potentate

  potential, powerful

  potting, tippling

  pouncet-box, small box for perfumes

  powder, preserve meat with salt or spice

  powdering-tub, pickling-tub, sweating-tub used in cure of venereal disease

  power, army

  pox, syphilis, venereal disease

  practice, trickery, conspiracy, plot

  practisant, one who carries out a trick

  practise, plot, conspire

  praemunire, writ for maintaining papal jurisdiction in England

  praetor, Roman magistrate

  praise, appraise, value

  prank, adorn

  prate, chatter, prattle

  precedent, former; original from which a copy is made, sign

  precisian, puritan

  precurrer, forerunner

  precurse, heralding

  predicament, situation

  prefer, present, advance, introduce, recommend

  preferment, advancement, promotion

  pregnancy, quickness of wit

  pregnant, clear, fertile, compelling, resourceful, receptive

  prejudicate, influence beforehand

  prejudice, injury; injure

  premise, aforesaid matter

  premised, sent before

  preparation, accomplishment

  preposterous, inverting the natural order of things, monstrous

  prerogative, precedence, pre-eminence, prior place

  presage, omen, prognostication, foreboding

  presence, presence-chamber, company, person

  present, immediate, instant; ready money, to show, represent, bring a charge against

  presently, immediately

  presentment, dedication

  press, crowd, crowding, printing-press, cupboard, authority to enlist men compulsorily; to crowd, oppress, force into military service

  pressure, impression, character impressed

  pretence, expressed aim, intention, pretext

  prevent, anticipate, escape, avoid

  prick, mark made by pricking, dot, point, spot in centre of target, prickle, penis; to mark by making a dot, etc., pierce, fix, point, spur

  pricket, buck in its second year

  prick-song, music sung from notes

  pride, magnificence, splendid adornment, highest state, mettle, sexual desire

  prig, thief

  prime, first, chief, sexually excited; springtime

  primogenitive, first-born’s right to inherit

  principal, superior, abettor, principal rafter

  princox, pert youth

  Priscian, Roman grammarian

  prithee, please

  private, private person

  privates, sexual organs

  prize, contest; to value, esteem

  prizer, prize-fighter, wrestler

  probal, to, able to bear the probe or examination of

  probation, trial, proof

  proceeder, one proceeding to a university degree

  procurator, proxy

  prodigious, ominous, portentous, monstrous, abnormal

  proditor, traitor

  proface, ‘may it do you good’, formula of welcome before a meal

  profited, proficient

  progeny, lineage, race

  progress, royal journey in state

  project, notion, idea; set forth, exhibit

  projection, plan

  prolixious, prolonged

  prolong, postpone

  Prometheus, stole fire from heaven and was chained to Mount Caucasus

  prone, ready, eager

  proof, test, trial, experience, issue, result

  propend, incline

  proper, (one’s) own, private, peculiar, excellent, handsome

  property, identity, particular quality, take possession of, endow with qualities, make a tool of

  proportion, portion, division, relative size, proportioning, rhythm

  propose, put forward, set before one’s mind, suppose, converse

  propriety, identity, proper state

  propugnation, defence

  prorogue, prolong, postpone

  prosecution, pursuit

  Proserpina, daughter of Ceres, carried away by Pluto to become queen of hell

  prosperous, favourable

  Proteus, a sea-god, able to assume different shapes

  protractive, consisting in delay

  proud, elated, giving cause for pride, lofty, splendid, spirited, swollen, over-luxuriant, sexually excited

  prove, try, test, find by experience, experience

  publish, make known, proclaim, denounce

  pucelle, virgin, maid, slut

  puck, pixy, mischievous spirit

  pudding, sausage, stuffing

  pudency, modesty

  puissance, strength, armed force

  puissant, strong, powerful

  pumpion, pumpkin

  punk, prostitute, harlot

  punto reverso, back-handed thrust in fencing

  puny, novice, person of small account

  purblind, quite blind, partially blind

  purchase, booty, prize, annual rent from land; to strive, gain, acquire otherwise than by inheritance

  purgation, clearing from accusation or suspicion

  purlieu, tract of land bordering on a forest

  purpose, proposal, conversation

  pursuivant, junior attendant on heralds, herald, messenger

  pursy, short-winded, fat

  purveyor, steward going ahead to make provision

  putter on, instigator

  puttock, bird of prey, kite, buzzard

  quail, prostitute; to fail, faint, overpower

  quaint, skilful, clever, dainty, line, beautiful, elaborate

  qualification, calm and controlled condition

  qualify, moderate, mitigate, appease, control, dilute

  quality, accomplishment, rank, profession, party, side, manner, cause

  quarry, heap of slaughtered game

  quarter, part, watch, relations with and conduct towards another

  quat, pimple

  quatch, word of unknown meaning

  quean, hussy, whore

  queasy, hazardous, squeamish

  quell, slaughter

  quest, jury, inquest, search party

  questant, seeker

  questionable, inviting question

  questrist, seeker

  quick, flowing, fresh, impa
tient, living

  quiddity, subtlety, equivocation

  quietus, clearing of accounts

  quintain, object or figure to practise tilting at

  quirk, quibble, clever expression, peculiarity of behaviour, fit, start

  quit, set free, rid, acquit, acquit oneself of, revenge, repay, requite

  quittal, requital

  quittance, discharge from debt, requital; requite

  quoif, close-fitting cap

  quondam, former

  quote, give marginal references to, set down in writing, note, observe, regard

  quoth, said

  quotidian, (of an intermittent fever) returning every day

  race, root (of ginger), lineage, breed, natural disposition

  rack, driving cloud; to torture, extend, stretch, strain

  rage, madness, angry disposition, sexual passion; to enrage

  ‘raigning arraigning, putting on trial

  ramp, loose woman

  rampallian, riotous woman

  rampire, barricade

  rank, growing too luxuriantly, swollen, grown too fat, rebellious, high, full, lustful, in heat, coarse, festering; closely

  rankle, cause a festering wound

  rankness, overflowing, insolence

  rare, splendid

  rascal, inferior deer

  rate, estimate, value, expense

  ravel, become entangled, disentangle

  raven, devour greedily

  rayed, bespattered, fouled

  read, teach, discover the meaning of, expound a riddle

  re-answer, compensate for

  reason, speech, remark; to talk, discuss, explain

  reasonable, needing the use of reason

  reave, deprive, take away

  rebate, make dull, blunt

  rebato, stiff collar

  receipt, what is received, receptacle, receiving, capacity, recipe

  receiving, understanding, reception

  recheat, notes sounded on a horn to call hounds together in stag-hunting

  reck, to care (for), mind

  reclaim, tame, subdue

  recognizance, bond, token

  recomfort, console, restore

  record, witness, memory; to witness, sing

  recordation, memorial, impression on the memory

  recourse, access, admission, flowing

  recover, reconcile, reach, rescue

  recovery, process by which entailed estate was transferred from one party to another

  rector, ruler, head

  rectorship, rule

  recure, restore, heal

  reduce, bring, bring back

  reechy, smoky, dirty, stinking

  reek, smoke, steam

  refel, refute

  reflect, shine

  regiment, authority, rule

  region, upper air, air

  regreet, greeting, contract

  reguerdon, reward

  rehearsal, account

  rehearse, describe, tell

  reins, kidneys

  rejoindure, reunion

  rejourn, adjourn

  relative, able to be related and believed

  religion, strict fidelity, religious duty

  religious, exact, conscientious, strict

  remember, mention, commemorate, remind

  remit, pardon, give up

  remonstrance, demonstration

  remorse, pity, tenderness, moderation, qualification, mitigation

  remorseful, compassionate

  remotion, departing

  removed, remote, secluded, separated by time or space

  removedness, absence

  remover, one who changes

  render, surrender, rendering of an account, statement; to give back, represent, describe as being, declare, state, surrender

  rendezvous, refuge, last resort

  renege, deny, renounce

  renown, make famous

  repair, restoring, coming; go, come, return

  repairing, able to renew the attack

  repasture, food

  repeal, recall from exile; recall as from banishment, call back into favour

  repetition, recital, mention

  repine, vexation

  replenished, perfect

  replication, reply, echo

  reprisal, prize

  reprobance, damnation, rejection by God

  reprobate, depraved

  reproof, disgrace, disproof, refutation

  reprove, disprove, refute

  repugn, oppose

  repugnancy, resistance

  repugnant, refractory

  rescue, freeing from legal custody by force

  resemblance, appearance, likelihood

  resist, affect with distaste

  resolve, dissolve, answer (a question), solve (a problem), convince, inform

  resolvedly, answering all questions

  respect, relationship, discrimination, consideration, esteem; to regard, care for, esteem

  respective, careful, worthy of being cared for, discriminating

  respectively, respectfully

  respite, delay, date to which something is postponed, limit

  responsive, suited

  rest, place to rest, restored strength, resolution, stakes kept in reserve

  restrain, draw tight, withhold

  resty, restive, sluggish

  retention, detention, reserve, power to hold or retain

  retentive, confining, restraining

  retire, return

  retort, to reflect (heat), reject (an appeal)

  retreat, recall of pursuing force

  retrograde, contrary, seeming to move in a backward course

  reverb, resound

  revolt, revulsion, change; rebel

  revolution, alteration, change produced by time

  revolve, consider

  rhapsody, confused medley

  rheum, mucus from nose or throat, cold in the head, rheumatism

  riggish, wanton

  rigol, ring, circle

  rim, belly, membrane lining the abdomen

  ring-carrier, go-between

  ringlet, little circle

  riot, loose living, debauchery

  rivage, shore

  rival, partner

  rive, split

  rivelled, wrinkled

  road, riding, period of riding, stage (of journey), roadstead, highway

  robustious, boisterous

  roguing, roaming

  roguish, vagrant

  roisting, blustering, bullying

  roll, household register

  rondure, circle

  ropery, knavery

  Roscius, famous Roman actor

  rote, fix by memory

  round, plain, plain-spoken, severe; round dance, roundabout way, rung of a ladder; surround, become round

  roundet, round dance

  rouse, full draught of liquor, drinking bout

  royal, gold coin of the value often shillings (fifty pence)

  royalty, prerogative enjoyed, or granted, by the sovereign

  roynish, scurvy

  rub, in bowls an obstacle hindering or turning aside the bowl, obstacle, hindrance, roughness, unevenness; to turn aside, hinder

  rubious, ruby-red

  ruddock, robin

  rude, ignorant, barbarous, violent, rough

  rudeness, violence, roughness

  rudesby, rough unmannerly brute

  ruffle, bustle; swagger, bear oneself proudly, bluster, be turbulent

  rugged, shaggy, frowning

  rug-headed, having shaggy hair

  ruinous, brought to ruin

  rumour, fame, tumult, uproar

  runagate, deserter, vagabond

  runnion, wretch (a term of abuse)

  russet, homely, simple

  sable, black

  sack, white wine

  sackbut, trumpet resembling a trombone

  sad, steadfast, grave, serious, dismal

 
; sadly, gravely, seriously

  sadness, seriousness

  safe, make safe

  safety, custody, safeguard

  sain, said

  salamander, lizard-like animal supposed to live in fire

  sale-work, ready-made goods not of the highest quality

  sallet, light helmet, something mixed or savoury

  salt, lecherous

  salute, touch, affect

  sample, example

  sanctimony, holiness, sanctity

  sanctuarize, give sanctuary to

  sand-blind, half-blind

  sanguine, red

  sans, without

  sapient, wise

  sarcenct, fine soft silk material

  sauce, over-charge, rebuke

  saucy, insolent, presumptuous, wanton

  savagery, wild growth

  savour, smell, perfume, style, character

  saw, saying, maxim, proverb

  say, finely woven cloth, taste, saying

  scab, rascal, scurvy fellow

  scald, scabby, mean

  scale, weigh

  scan, assess

  scandalize, disgrace

  scantling, specimen, sample

  scantly, slightingly

  scape, escapade, transgression; escape

  scarf, officer’s sash, sling, streamer; blindfold, deck with streamers

  scathe, harm; to injure

  schedule, document

  school, university, instruction, learning; reprimand, discipline

  science, knowledge

  scion, shoot, slip for grafting

  sconce, head, small fort or earthwork

  scope, object, aim, purpose, theme, liberty

  score, notch cut in stock or tally in keeping accounts, account; to notch

  scorn, taunt, insult, object of contempt

  scotch, cut, gash

  scour, hasten

  scrimer, fencer

  scrip, small bag, piece of paper with writing on

  scrippage, contents of scrip

  scripture, writing

  scrubbed, stunted

  scruple, tiny part, doubt, difficulty

  scurril, coarsely abusive

  scut, deer’s tail

  scutcheon, shield with coat of arms; tablet showing armorial bearings of a dead man

  seam, fat, grease

  sectary, dissenter, one who pursues a particular study

  secure, free from care, confident, unsuspicious; make confident or overconfident

  securely, confidently, without suspicion

  security, confidence, overconfidence

  seed, mature, run to seed

  seedness, sowing

  seeing, appearance

  seel, make blind, close (a person’s eyes)

  seely, foolish, innocent, harmless

  seen, skilled

  seld, seldom

  self, one’s own, same

  semblable, similar, like, equal

  semblative, like, resembling

  Seneca, Roman tragic dramatist

  sennight, week