Twelfth Night : Vocabulary Act 1

surfeit

n. an excessive amount of something. (as a verb: to reduce desire by overindulgence)

pitch

n. The highest point (term taken from falconry)

Element

n. The Sky (probably derives from air being on of the four elements)

abatement

the ending, reduction, or lessening of something

hart

male deer

purge

cleanse

cloistress

a nun in religious seclusion or in a convent

Elysium

n. place or state of blissful happiness; Heaven; In classical mythology, Elysium, or the Elysian fields, was the home of the blessed after death, the final resting place of the souls of the heroic and the pure.

eunuch

a man who has been castrated (A castrato is a male singer who was castrated before puberty. The immediate effect on their voice was that they retained the high notes and range of their immature voice)

troth

a solemn pledge of fidelity; loyalty

shrew

a woman of violent temper and speech

Syllogism

A form of deductive reasoning consisting of a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. Deduction. ("All mammals are animals. All elephants are mammals. Therefore, all elephants are animals.")

motley

a jester's (a fool's) costume

leasing

art of lying

feign

to pretend; to make up

nonpareil

a person with no equal

lethargy

lack of energy; sluggishness

Synesthesia

the blending of senses; describing one kind of sensation in terms of another ("a loud color", "a sweet sound")

Metaphor

a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action to which it is not literally applicable.

mixed metaphor

a combination of two or more incompatible metaphors, which produces an interesting or ridiculous effect (ex "We'll have a lot of new blood holding gavels in Washington.")

Apostrophe

direct address to a thing, a spirit or non-present entity

Allusion

A specific cultural reference in a work of literature to another literary, historical, Biblical, or social work, figure or event outside the work itself.

Motif

a narrative element with symbolic meaning that repeats throughout a work of literature

Pun

play on words that have the same sound (homonyms), or similar sounds, but have sharply contrasting meanings