Once again I bring you material from The Shakespeare Book of Lists
You may have seen my other Shakespeare BYKI lists covering Falstaff’s vocabulary. What is BYKI? BYKI is an online tool you can use to learn pretty much anything, even though the company that develops the software, Transparent Language, is focused on using it to teach foreign languages. I think that BYKI is perfectly suited for learning Shakespearean vocabulary, so I make wordlists on occasion and offer them on this site. To use the widget, simply click “Start Learning” and choose a mode (try Recognize It to start).
Why use my BYKI widgets? Because if you know Shakespearean vocabulary before you read the plays, you’ll know the meanings of difficult words as you encounter them, which will allow you to enjoy the flow of the story uninterrupted. This will increase your enjoyment of the plays dramatically (no pun intended). It’s critical to know the meanings of words like
- Dispatch
- Office
- Troth
- Verily
or you’ll miss out on some great literature.
The list below covers all of Will’s plays, and while many of the definitions given are for specific instances of the word (for instance, “power” will not always mean “army,” but it does in Antony and Cleopatra, Act III Scene 7) it will still be useful to know how the words can be used in different contexts. If you ever want to find occurrences of a given word in Shakespeare’s plays, I suggest you try the advanced search feature at Open Source Shakespeare. It’s very thorough.
Without further ado, here’s the list…
NOTE: Some words may look like they’re supposed to be verbs, like “mew,” which means “confine,” but if I didn’t write “to” in front of the word then it’s not intended to be a verb. A mew is actually a thing: a confine or a cage.
Tags: antony and cleopatra, vocabulary
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December 24, 2007 at 5:12 am
Desdemona
What a fantastic resource! My favorite misunderstood phrase:
O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?
I was at the Globe and saw T-shirts that said this on one side, and then on the other: “Seriously, has anyone seen him?”
Of all places…
I take it by your Antony & Cleo shoutout that you’ve read it since our interlude on the T?
Hope all’s well!
December 25, 2007 at 4:07 pm
Evan Quinlan
I have not yet read Antony and Cleopatra, but when I’m writing posts I like to pretend I’ve read all the plays at least twice. Convincing, no?
I’m surprised at The Globe… they’re so usually so obsessed with accuracy and authenticity. I guess those in charge of the gift shop either aren’t as picky or don’t care if items that sell well perpetuate Elizabethan misnomers.
July 6, 2010 at 8:34 am
billy nomates
i love th story Mcbeth i think that Lady Mcbeth shouldnt have gone to the witchs what do you guys think???
April 13, 2011 at 6:23 pm
dirty dan and pin head lary
well….all i wanted was what the words that he created and what they ment but this was okay. i got some words for this poem that i have to do and i dont like the poem but maybe in the extra space above this, you can put some words that he created and put what they mean.. that would also put more people looking at this because maybe they want to just look at the words he created and what they mean without having to flip that little flashcard thingy and yeah..so maybe you could do what i said and it would help a lot of people like me and you and other people which would be cool because then i would have helped with an idea for this website and everyone would use it and that would be cool..very cool especialy me and my friend pin head larry because everyone makes fun of him and how his head is so pointy so if he helped create something then he wouldnt be made fun of any more and that means that you or whoever creates this site thing would help with bullying because you can help make dreams come true. do you want to know how mine came true? no? well i will tell you anyway..it was a calm day with some grey clouds and then i wished for it to rain because i love the rain and then all of the sudden it started to rain and i was so happy because my dream came true because the computer god sent an email to the weather people and then they said that it was going to rain and everyone knows that the weather people always say what will happen for the wheater and it always comes true and then the clouds were told to let out rain and they did so computers do make bullying stop and dreams come true so it would be really cool for pin head larry to not be bullyed because he is actually really cool but it is the rules for where i live that if you havent helped make something then you must be bullied until you do so please please please make our suggustion and dream come true thanks so much!
lots of love!
Dirty Dan and Pin Head Larry
April 13, 2011 at 6:28 pm
dirty dan and pin head lary
hey its us again and we are really mad that you didnt make our deam come true in 5 seconds because all of our dreams must come true within 5 seconds and if you dont, then you get bullied/ beat up more so thanks a lot for ruinning pin head larrys life
lots of opposite of love!
Dirty Dan and Pin Head Larry >:(
April 13, 2011 at 6:28 pm
dirty dan and pin head lary
hi again
April 13, 2011 at 6:29 pm
dirty dan and pin head lary
hows it goin