Shakespeare Dictionary, Q - Z

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This is an extremely selective and personal dictionary of troublesome words I have found in Shakespeare. It is limited to words that have fallen out of use, OR whose meanings have changed over the centuries. "Power" is an excellent example of this second category; in Shakespeare, it normally refers to an army.

Other words, like "pelican" and "willow" have lost the strong symbolic meaning that they had in Shakespeare's day. Most modern readers (myself included) would need a dictionary of mythology to understand that "pelicans" allegedly pecked open their mothers' breasts to feed.

Words like 'store' usually mean the same thing they mean now, but sometimes mean something a little different. In the example, 'store' means 'material, substance, stuff', as opposed to 'a supply of stuff'. Subtly, but distinctly different.

The table shows Shakespeare's word, it meaning (in the sample usage), "#" - its relative frequency, reference(s) to the word's use in well-known plays, and a sample usage, in context.

The middle column "#" is the number of times the word is found in Shakespeare (based on an Internet Shakespeare query service, not on exhaustive scholarly research). It is only shown to give a sense of how often the word appears.

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Shakespeare's word	Meaning (in the sample usage)	#	Reference(s)	Sample usage
quaint	curiously beautiful; pun on Latin for female member	10	Merch 3.4	Like a fine bragging youth, and tell quaint lies,
quern	hand-mill for grinding corn	1	Mids
quest	jury (also used in modern sense of 'search')	8	Rich III 1.4	What lawful quest have given their verdict up
quillets	quibbles, niceties (wisecracks) (all 6 instances are in the plural)	6	Oth 3.1	Prithee, keep up thy quillets.
recreant	one who yields in combat, and begs for mercy; a mean-spirited, cowardly wretch	9	Mids 3.2 Lear 1.1	Come, recreant; come; thou child; I'll whip thee with a rod Hear me, recreant!
remotion	removal	2	Lear 2.4	this remotion of the duke and her is practise only.
rere-mice	bats	1	Mids 2.2	Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings
reservation	exception, condition	5	Lear 2.4	But kept a reservation to be follow'd With such a number.
resolve	explain, clarify	32	Lear 2.4	Resolve me, with all modest haste, which way Thou mightst deserve, or they impose, this usage,
roundly	plainly, bluntly	9	Shrew 1.2	Petruchio, shall I then come roundly to thee / And wish thee to a shrewd ill-favour'd wife?
rubb'd	hindered, impeded (from bowls)	3	Lear 2.2	Whose disposition ... Will not be rubb'd nor stopped
rudesby	rough, unmannerly fellow	2	Shrew 3.2	To give my hand opposed against my heart / Unto a mad-brain rudesby...
sallet	salad	3	Lear 3.4	when the foul fiend rages, eats cow-dung for sallets
When I was in college, struggling through my Signet volume of Shakespeare, I didn't have the time, money, or inclination to buy audio tapes of the plays. I've done so recently, and what a difference. In part, because Shakespeare was meant to be heard (and seen), and in part, because the English language has changed, listening to Hamlet, or any of the plays, while reading the text, adds a whole new dimension. The humor becomes clearer; anger is better conveyed; the reader/listener at once can absorb so much more of the play.
scant	cut short, curtail, make small	10	Lear 2.4	tis not in thee ... to scant my sizes
self-subdued	one who gave up without a struggle	1	Lear 2.2	For him attempting who was self-subdued
Sessa	Be off with you	3	Shrew Ind. Lear 3.4.99	let the world slide: sessa! sessa! let him trot by.
shearman	shearer of woolen cloth	1	2 HVI 4.2	Villain, thy father was a plasterer; And thou thyself a shearman, art thou not
sheep-biter	sneaky (dog)	1	TN 2.5	rascally sheep-biter
shog	be off, go, move on (used only by Nym)	2	Henry V 2.3	Shall we shog? the king will be gone from Southampton.
shoon	shoes	2	2 HVI 4.2	We will not leave one lord, one gentleman: / Spare none but such as go in clouted shoon; / For they are thrifty honest men,
shrift	to confess	8	Rom 4.2	she comes from shrift with merry look
shrine	image of a saint, or container for such	5	Rom 1.5	if I profane with my unworthiest hand this holy shrine
silly-ducking	low-bowing	1	Lear 2.2	twenty silly-ducking observants
simular	false; specious; counterfeit	2	Lear 3.2	Thou perjured, and thou simular man of virtue That art incestuous
sizes	settled quantities or allowances	2	Lear 2.4	tis not in thee ... to scant my sizes
snuffs	anger, (from snuffing the nose)	1	Lear 3.1	what hath been seen ... in snuffs and packings of the dukes
square	to quarrel, as in "square off" (also in modern sense)	14	Mids 2.1	And now they never meet in grove or green, / By fountain clear, or spangled starlight sheen, / But, they do square, that all their elves for fear / Creep into acorn-cups and hide them there.
squiny	cause to squint	1	Lear 3.4	Dost thou squiny at me?
stale	harlot, laughing-stock urine	27	Shrew 1.1 Ant 1.4.497	I pray you, sir, is it your will To make a stale of me amongst these mates? ... Thou did'st drink / The stale of Horses, and the gilded Puddle / Which Beasts would cough at.

When I was in college, struggling through my Signet volume of Shakespeare, I didn't have the time, money, or inclination to buy audio tapes of the plays. I've done so recently, and what a difference.

In part, because Shakespeare was meant to be heard (and seen), and in part, because the English language has changed, listening to King Lear, or any of the plays, while reading the text, adds a whole new dimension.

The humor becomes clearer; anger is better conveyed; the reader/listener at once can absorb so much more of the play. For King Lear, this version with Sir Laurence Olivier is excellent.

staniel	kestrel	1	TN 2.5	with what wing the staniel cheques at it
still	always	558	Lear 1.1	let me still remain / The true blank of thine eye
store	material, stuff (also in modern sense)	45	Lear 3.6	What store her heart is made on.
subscription	submission; obedience	1	Lear 3.2	You owe me no subscription
suggest	seduce; prompt to evil; tempt, insinuate	8	Rich II	Suggest his soon-believing adversaries
sumpter	a horse that carries provisions on a journey	1	Lear 2.4	Persuade me rather to be slave and sumpter To this detested groom.
superflux	superabundance; superfluity; an overflowing (?)	1	Lear 3.4	That thou mayst shake the superflux to them,
tabor	small drum	9	TN 3.1	dost thou live by thy tabour?
tang	resound	3	TN 2.5	let thy tongue tang arguments of state
tax	accuse, charge, censure (also in modern sense)	11	Lear 3.2	I tax not you, you elements, with unkindness
teem	bear children; be impregnated	3	Lear 1.4 Oth 4.1	If she must teem/ create her child of spleen; If that the earth could teem with women's tears
tester, testril	sixpence (from Fr. head)	3	TN 2.3	There's a testril of me too:
thought-executing	instantly	1	Lear 3.2	You sulphurous and thought-executing fires
tithing	parish	1	Lear 3.4	Poor Tom ... who is whipped from tithing to tithing
touch	try, prove, as a touchstone (also in modern sense)	116	Oth 3.3	Wherein I mean to touch your love indeed
toy	wild fancy; an odd conceit; folly	15	Oth 3.4	Pray heaven it be ... no conception nor no jealous toy concerning you.
troth	belief; faith; fidelity	95	Lear 3.4	Bid her alight, And her troth plight,
tucket	trumpet flourish	1	Lear 2.4	[Tucket within]
unbolted	unsifted, unkneaded; unrefined, coarse	1	Lear 2.2	I will tread this unbolted villain into mortar
vaward	vanguard, fore part	5	Mids 4.1	we have the vaward of the day
verge	circumference; circle; ring		Rich II	thy head ... incaged in so small a verge
vile	low, cheap, worthless		Lear 3.2	The art of our necessities is strange, That can make vile things precious.
wain	wagon 'Charles' wain' is the Big Dipper	2	1 HIV 2.1	Charles' wain is over the new chimney
want	lack		Rich III 1.1	want love's majesty
watched	stood watches, stayed awake; closely observed		Lear 2.2; Oth 3.3	my lord shall never rest; / I'll watch him tame
web and pin	cataract of the eye		Lear 3.4	he gives the web and the pin, squints the eye
welkin	sky		Shrew Ind.	Thy hounds shall make the welkin answer them
willow	symbol of rejected love	25	TN 1.5	Make me a willow cabin at your gate

The most comprehensive work on this topic is Alexander Schmidt's Shakespeare Lexicon, a typical turn-of-the-century tome, carried out with Teutonic thoroughness. I wonder how the pre-computer-era scholars tackled projects like this; lots of index cards and infinite patience, I suppose.

Incredibly, the book provides EVERY instance of EVERY word, in context, used by Shakespeare. In any event, for anyone who really enjoys Shakespeare, it's fun to pore over this "volume of forgotten lore", read the three main definitions of "rank" (a row, too luxuriant, or degree) and all its occurrences in the plays.

You can order Shakespeare Lexicon and Quotation Dictionary (Vol. 2 N-Z) by Alexander Schmidt (a Dover re-print, 1985) from Amazon.com. Please note that this is only Volume 2, N-Z. (You can find Schmidt's first volume on the main page.)

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