The Taming of the Shrew

by William Shakespeare

  216 sting plays on the sense of genitals/sexual urge

  219 tails puns on "tales"

  220 with ... tail i.e. leaving me with the last word (tail puns on the sense of "vagina") come plays on the sense of "have an orgasm" again back/once more 222 try test

  223 cuff hit

  224 lose your arms waste your strength/loosen your grip/forfeit your coat of arms (the sign of being a gentleman) 225 strike plays on the sense of "have sex with"

  227 books book of heraldry, where gentlemen's coats of arms were recorded (plays on the notion of "good books" and on "vagina") 228 crest identifying feature on a coat of arms/tuft on the head of an animal (with phallic connotations) coxcomb fool's cap (similar in appearance to a cock's crest; plays on "cock"--i.e. penis) 229 combless i.e. unthreatening cock cockerel/penis so provided that hen i.e. wife/harlot 230 craven cock with no fighting spirit

  232 fashion manner crab sour crab-apple

  236 glass mirror

  238 Well ... one well guessed for one so inexperienced

  239 young youthful/strong

  241 cares troubles

  243 scape escape

  244 chafe annoy, inflame

  246 rough harsh/ unmanageable coy disdainful, unresponsive 248 pleasant merry gamesome sportive, playful

  249 slow easygoing, without a quick tongue

  250 askance scornfully

  252 cross combative/ill-tempered

  253 entertain'st receive

  254 conference conversation

  259 halt limp

  260 whom ... command order you servants about (rather than me)

  261 Dian Diana, goddess of chastity, the moon and hunting become suit, enhance 262 gait manner, bearing, way of walking

  264 sportful lively/playful/amorous

  265 study learn/practice goodly splendid (sarcastic)

  266 extempore spontaneous, improvised mother-wit natural intelligence 267 A ... son your mother must have had some wit, as left to yourself you would have none at all 268 wise ... warm "he is wise enough that can keep himself warm" (proverbial) 270 mean intend to

  274 will ... you whether you will or not

  275 for your turn right for you (plays on the sense of "for sex with you") 280 wild Kate puns on "wild-cat"

  281 Conformable pliant, obedient

  282 Never make denial do not refuse me

  284 speed you do you succeed, fare

  286 amiss adversely, without progress

  287 In your dumps? Down-hearted?

  292 face ... out brazenly get his own way

  295 policy strategic purposes

  297 temperate moderate, gentle

  298 Grissel Patient Griselda was, in Boccaccio and Chaucer, a model of wifely obedience 299 Lucrece raped by the Roman king Tarquin, Lucrece was so ashamed she committed suicide 300 'greed got along

  304 speeding progress/success goodnight our part our part in this business is over 307 'twixt us twain between we two

  312 vied redoubled (gambling term for raising the stakes) protesting declaring 313 twink twinkling

  314 a ... see wonderful to see

  316 meacock feeble

  318 gainst in preparation for

  319 bid invite

  320 fine finely dressed

  321 hands ... witnesses joining of hands in front of witnesses (the "pre-contract") prevented either party from becoming engaged to another 325 apace swiftly

  328 clapped up settled

  330 desperate mart risky business endeavor

  331 'Twas ... you it (Kate) was a piece of merchandise that was losing its value (fretting plays on the sense of "aggravating") 333 quiet peace of mind

  334 quiet catch (ironic)

  341 freeze possibly implies impotence

  342 fry burn lecherously

  343 Skipper frivolous wastrel nourisheth sustains life 345 compound settle

  346 deeds actions/legal deeds he of both whichever of the two of you 347 dower settlement made to the wife on the death of the husband

  351 plate gold or silver tableware

  352 lave wash

  353 hangings wall coverings Tyrian from Tyre, an ancient trading city on the Mediterranean 354 coffers chests

  355 cypress made from cypress wood arras counterpoints tapestried bed coverings from Arras 356 tents hangings for a bed

  357 Turkey Turkish bossed embossed, adorned

  358 Valance ... needlework valences (borders on the sides or canopy of a bed) embroidered with Venetian gold thread 361 milch-kine dairy cows to the pail (specifically) for milking 363 answerable ... portion appropriate to an estate of this size

  364 struck old

  367 came well in is to the point list listen

  371 walls i.e. the walls forming the city limits

  373 two ... land i.e. the land brings in an annual income of two thousand ducats (gold coins) 374 jointure widow's settlement

  375 pinched distressed/belittled

  378 argosy large merchant ship

  379 Marseillis' road the harbor at Marseilles

  382 galliases heavy low-built vessels

  383 tight efficient, seaworthy

  389 out-vied outbid (card-playing term)

  391 let providing assurance (financial) guarantee

  392 else otherwise

  394 cavil quibble

  404 gamester gambler, foolish adventurer were would be 406 Set ... table i.e. become dependent upon you toy piece of nonsense 409 faced ... ten bluffed, brazened it out with a card only worth ten

  410 'Tis ... head I have a plan

  412 get beget, conceive

  415 sire father

  1 Fiddler ... sir implies that Hortensio is holding Bianca's fingers as he teaches her the lute 2 entertainment reception

  3 withal with

  6 prerogative priority

  8 lecture lesson

  9 Preposterous unreasonable/placing last what should be first

  10 ordained created

  12 usual pain habitual labor

  14 serve in serve up (contemptuous)

  15 braves blustering threats

  17 resteth ... choice is up to me

  18 breeching ... schools schoolboy liable to be whipped (breeched)

  19 'pointed appointed

  22 the whiles in the meantime

  28 'Hic ... senis' "here ran the [river] Simois; here is the Sigeian land [Troy]; here stood the lofty palace of old Priam [King of Troy]" (from Ovid's Heroides) 30 Conster translate/analyze grammatically/expound

  35 port station, dignity pantaloon foolish old man (i.e. Gremio) 37 fie expression of impatience or disgust jars sounds discordant 38 Spit ... again possibly a perversion of the proverb "spit in your hands and take a better hold" (sequence instrument's ... spit in the hole ... tune ... fingering may have sexual connotations) 45 jars quarrels

  46 pedant schoolmaster/quibbler

  48 Pedascule little pedant

  50 Aeacides ... grandfather the Greek hero Ajax was also known as Aeacides, after his grandfather Aeacus (Lucentio has moved to the next line of Ovid's Heroides) 52 master tutor

  53 doubt point

  56 pleasant merry, playful

  57 give me leave leave me

  58 three parts i.e. the company of three people

  59 formal punctilious

  60 withal at the same time but unless

  63 order method

  65 gamut the musical scale briefer sort quicker way

  68 fairly drawn neatly set out

  71 ground ... accord basis of all harmony

  75 one ... I perhaps Hortensio's love (one clef) and his real and assumed personalities (two notes); may also have sexual connotations ("one vagina," "two testicles"--notes playing on "nuts") leading to play on die in next line 78 Old established nice capricious

  79 true legitimate, constant

  85 pry into spy on, investigate

  88 stale decoy (specifically, one that distracts a poorly trained hawk)

  89 Seize ... list let those who wan
t you have you ranging straying (like a hawk)/unfaithful 90 quit with rid of/even with

  5 want lack

  8 forsooth in truth

  10 rudesby insolent ruffian spleen temper, passion

  11 wooed ... leisure varies the proverbial "he who marries in haste repents at leisure"

  12 frantic insane, frenzied

  14 noted for known as

  19 Lo look

  23 fortune ... word event prevents him from keeping his word

  29 humour temperament

  30 Old plentiful (Baptista plays on the more familiar sense)

  40 to of

  42 jerkin close-fitting jacket turned i.e. inside out (to make them last longer) 43 candle-cases containers for candle ends (i.e. too worn out to wear)

  45 chapeless without a sheath points laces for fastening the doublet to the hose 46 hipped lame, with an injured hip of no kindred that do not match 47 glanders horse disease affecting the nostrils and jaws like ... chine of unclear meaning; perhaps a corruption of "like to mourn in the chine"--i.e. likely to be in the final stages of the glanders--or possibly "likely to have a weak spine (chine)"

  48 lampass horse disease affecting the mouth fashions farcins (horse disease causing tumors) 49 windgalls tumors on a horse's leg sped with spavins rendered useless by swelling of the leg joints rayed disfigured yellows jaundice 50 fives horse disease affecting the parotid glands stark utterly staggers horse disease marked by a staggering movement begnawn gnawed at 51 bots intestinal worms swayed ... back with a bowed spine shoulder-shotten with a dislocated shoulder near-legged before knock-kneed in the front legs 52 half-checked bit restraining bit with a broken sidering (so, ineffective) head-stall part of the horse's bridle that goes over the head 53 sheep's leather i.e. weak leather restrained pulled tight 55 girth leather band that goes under the horse's stomach to hold the saddle in place pieced mended crupper leather strap that prevents the saddle from slipping 56 velure velvet hath ... studs is adorned with her initials in (brass or silver) studs 57 packthread string

  59 lackey servant caparisoned dressed

  60 stock stocking kersey coarse cloth boot-hose over-stocking covering the whole of the lower leg 61 list strip of cloth

  62 humour ... fancies unclear; possibly refers to an old ballad, or to a fanciful ornament--the general sense is that the hat is adorned in an elaborate and whimsical manner pricked ... feather pinned in it in place of 64 footboy page, servant on foot

  65 pricks spurs

  66 mean-apparelled dressed humbly/ moderately

  74 Saint Jamy probably Saint James of Compostella, whose shrine was a popular object of pilgrimage 75 hold bet

  79 gallants fashionable, fine young gentlemen

  81 come not well am not welcome (Baptista responds to the sense of "walk with difficulty") 82 halt limp

  86 Gentles gentlemen

  87 wherefore why goodly fine

  88 monument portent

  89 comet thought to be a bad omen prodigy omen

  92 unprovided ill-dressed, unprepared

  93 doff take off habit clothing estate rank 94 solemn ceremonious

  95 occasion of import important event

  104 wears is passing, being wasted

  105 unreverent disrespectful

  109 Good sooth truly ha' have

  111 wear wear out (with sexual connotations)

  112 accoutrements clothes

  116 lovely loving

  120 event outcome

  122 liking approval to pass about

  125 skills matters fit adapt

  132 steps movements narrowly closely

  133 steal our marriage marry secretly

  137 watch our vantage look for a favorable opportunity

  138 overreach outwit

  139 narrow-prying inquisitive

  140 quaint crafty

  145 groom lowly character/servingman

  147 Curster more quarrelsome

  150 a fool to innocent compared to

  151 Sir respectful term of address

  153 gogs-wouns God's wounds (a common oath)

  154 book i.e. Bible

  156 took gave

  158 them probably refers to the priest and his book; possibly refers to the hem of Kate's skirt with Petruchio claiming to suspect the priest of peeping at her undergarments any list anyone is listening/wants to 160 for why because

  161 cozen cheat

  162 many various

  165 quaffed off drank up, drained muscadel a sweet wine 166 sops pieces of bread or cake placed in wine

  168 hungerly sparsely

  169 him him for

  174 rout company

  176 minstrels musicians

  178 think expect

  179 cheer food and drink

  184 Make ... wonder don't be surprised

  186 honest worthy, kind

  199 not stay not content to stay

  202 oats ... horses i.e. the horses are more than ready to gallop (as they have been so well fed) 207 be ... green go while your boots are still fresh

  209 jolly self-confident, arrogant

  210 take ... roundly behaves so presumptuously from the start

  212 hast ... do is it to do with you

  213 stay my leisure wait until I'm ready

  214 it ... work things are beginning to happen

  220 domineer feast riotously

  221 Carouse full measure drink heartily maidenhead virginity 222 mad high-spirited

  224 big threatening, irate

  226 my ... anything an echo of the Tenth Commandment, which lists the possessions one should not covet chattels movable possessions 227 stuff furnishings

  230 bring mine action take legal action against/respond with physical force proudest he bravest/most self-assured man 235 buckler defend (a buckler was a small round shield)

  237 Went they not if they had not gone

  241 Kated mated with Kate/infected with "the Kate"

  242 wants For to are lacking to

  244 junkets sweetmeats

  246 room place

  247 bride it play the bride

  2 foul ways muddy roads rayed dirtied

  4 little ... hot small pot that boils rapidly--i.e. small man who is quick to become angry (proverbial) 8 taller braver/ nobler/less short

  10 coldly unenthusiastically/like one who is physically chilly

  12 run running start

  15 fire ... water refers to the musical round "Scotland's burning, Scotland's burning See yonder! See yonder! Fire, fire! Fire, fire! / Cast on water! Cast on water!"

  16 hot fiery tempered

  18 winter ... beast "winter and wedlock tame both man and beast" (proverbial) 21 beast Curtis objects to the implication that he is Grumio's fellow after Grumio compares himself to a beast

  22 horn cuckold's horn (the sign of a man with an unfaithful wife)

  23 so ... least i.e. I/my penis must be at least as long to have made you a cuckold (picking up on the three-inch insult) 26 hot office fire-making duty

  29 do ... duty do your duty and take your dues (wages)

  33 Jack ... news alludes to the musical round "Jack boy, ho boy, News: / The cat is in the well"

  35 cony-catching trickery (puns on "catch"--i.e. a musical round, such as that quoted by Grumio) 37 trimmed decked out, prepared

  38 strewed i.e. on the floor, the usual Elizabethan practice

  39 fustian type of coarse cloth

  40 jacks male servants/leather drinking vessels jills female servants/metal drinking vessels (which would need polishing without) 41 laid usually on tables or hung on walls

  48 ha't have it, hear it

  53 sensible felt by the senses/easily understood

  55 Imprimis first (Latin)

  57 of on

  60 crossed interrupted/irritated

  62 miry boggy

  63 bemoiled covered with mud

  67 burst broken

  68 worthy memory worth remembering

  69 unexperienced in ignorance

&n
bsp; 72 proudest bravest

  73 what why

  75 blue traditional color of a servant's livery

  76 indifferent knit modest/matching pattern

  77 curtsy bow left legs as a show of subservience (to put your right foot forward was considered arrogant) 78 kiss their hands to kiss your own hand was a mark of respect to a superior 83 countenance honor (in the next line Grumio puns on the sense of "face") 88 credit respect (in the next line Grumio puns on the sense of "provide financial credit for") 97 spruce lively/smart

  98 neat spotless/elegant

  100 this this time

  101 Cock's passion by God's passion

  107 logger-headed stupid

  111 swain yokel whoreson rogue, son-of-a-whore malt-horse drudge plodding idiot (literally, heavy brewer's horse used to grind malt by working a treadmill) 112 park enclosed hunting ground

  114 made finished

  115 unpinked lacking ornamentation

  116 link blacking (from a burnt torch)

  117 come from sheathing returned from being fitted with a scabbard

  118 fine properly dressed

  122 "Where ... those--" lines from of an old (lost) ballad

  124 Soud unclear; possibly an exclamation of impatience or despair (many editors emend to "Food") 126 when exclamation of impatience

  127 "It ... way" fragment of a ballad (possibly bawdy, now lost) friar ... grey Gray friar or Franciscan 129 Out exclamation of anger pluck ... awry pull my foot the wrong way (as you remove my boot) 130 mend make a better job of

  131 water for handwashing

  132 Troilus a name associated with fidelity

  133 Ferdinand no such character ever appears

  139 beetle-headed thick-headed (a "beetle" is a heavy wooden mallet) flap-eared with long hanging ears 140 stomach appetite

  141 give thanks say grace

  148 dresser kitchen table on which food was prepared/sideboard from which food was served 150 trenchers plates

  151 joltheads blockheads unmannered insolent

  152 be ... straight deal with you immediately

  154 well satisfactory

  157 choler anger (associated with heat and dryness)

  159 of ourselves by our natures

  162 for company together

  165 kills ... humour defeats her with her own temperament

  167 continency moderation, self-restraint

  169 rates scolds

  171 new-risen newly woken

  173 politicly shrewdly, strategically

  175 falcon i.e. Kate; methods used in training a wild hawk involved continual observation, sleep deprivation and hunger sharp keenly hungry 176 stoop swoops directly to the prey/submits full-gorged fully fed 177 looks upon takes notice of lure bait used in training a hawk 178 man control haggard female hawk/wild woman

  180 watch her keep her awake kites birds of prey

  181 bate and beat flutter and flap

  182 eat ate

  188 hurly commotion intend pretend

  190 watch remain awake

  196 charity to show public duty to reveal it

  3 bears ... hand encourages me