Macbeth Act 1- Act 2 Vocab

plight

n. a situation from which extrication is difficult

What bloody man is that? He can report,
As seemeth by his ___, of the revolt
The newest state.

disburse

v. expend, as from a fund

Nor would we deign him burial of his men
Till he ____ at Saint Colme’s Inch
Ten thousand dollars to our general use.

rapt

adj. feeling great delight and interest

My noble partner
You greet with present grace and great prediction
Of noble having and of royal hope,
That he seems ___ withal.

trifle

adj. something of small importance

But ’tis strange.
And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,
The instruments of darkness tell us truths,
Win us with honest __, to betray ’s
In deepest consequence.

surmise

n. a message expressing an opinion based on incomplete evidence

My thought, whose murder yet is but fantastical,
Shakes so my single state of man
That function is smothered in ___,
And nothing is but what is not.

interim

n. the time between one event, process, or period and another

Think upon what hath chanced, and at more time,
The ___ having weighed it, let us speak
Our free hearts each to other.

harbinger

n. something indicating the approach of something or someone

The rest is labor which is not used for you.
I’ll be myself the ___ and make joyful
The hearing of my wife with your approach.
So humbly take my leave.

peerless

adj. eminent beyond or above comparison

Let’s after him,
Whose care is gone before to bid us welcome.
It is a ___ kinsman.

chastise

v. scold or criticize severely

Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And ___ with the valor of my tongue
All that impedes thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.

impede

v. be a hindrance or obstacle to

Hie thee hither,
That I may pour my spirits in thine ear
And chastise with the valor of my tongue
All that ___ thee from the golden round,
Which fate and metaphysical aid doth seem
To have thee crowned withal.

beguile

v. influence by slyness

To ___ the time,
Look like the time. Bear welcome in your eye,
Your hand, your tongue.

sway

v. controlling influence

He that’s coming
Must be provided for; and you shall put
This night’s great business into my dispatch,
Which shall to all our nights and days to come
Give solely sovereign ___ and masterdom.

purveyor

n. someone who supplies provisions, especially food

We coursed him at the heels and had a purpose
To be his ___; but he rides well,
And his great love, sharp as his spur, hath helped him
To his home before us.

undaunted

adj. resolutely courageous

Bring forth men-children only,
For thy ___ mettle should compose
Nothing but males.

mettle

n. the courage to carry on

Bring forth men-children only,
For thy undaunted ___ should compose
Nothing but males.

augment

v. enlarge or increase

So I lose none
In seeking to ___ it, but still keep
My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
I shall be counseled.

palpable

adj. capable of being perceived

I see thee yet, in form as ___
As this which now I draw.

knell

n. the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death

The bell invites me.
Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a ___
That summons thee to heaven or to hell.

gild

v. decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold

If he do bleed,
I’ll ___ the faces of the grooms withal,
For it must seem their guilt.

multitudinous

adj. too numerous to be counted

No, this my hand will rather
The ___ seas incarnadine,
Making the green one red.

equivocate

v. be deliberately ambiguous or unclear

Faith, here’s an ___ that could swear in both the scales against either
scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake yet could not ___ to heaven.

lechery

n. unrestrained indulgence in sexual activity

___, sir, it provokes, and unprovokes

sacrilegious

adj. grossly irreverent toward what is considered holy

Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.
Most ___ murder hath broke ope
The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
The life o’ th’ building.

temperate

adj. not extreme in behavior

Who can be wise, amazed, ___, and furious,
Loyal, and neutral, in a moment?

breach

n. an opening, especially a gap in a dike or fortification

Here lay Duncan,
His silver skin laced with his golden blood,
And his gashed stabs looked like a ___ in nature
For ruin’s wasteful entrance; there the murderers,
Steeped in the colors of their trade, their daggers
Unmannerly breeched with gore.

fraility

n. moral weakness

Look to the lady.
And when we have our naked ___ hid,
That suffer in exposure, let us meet
And question this most bloody piece of work
To know it further.

malice

adj. the desire to see others suffer

Fears and scruples shake us.
In the great hand of God I stand, and thence
Against the undivulged pretense I fight
Of treasonous ___.

predominance

n. the state of having superior power and influence over others

Is ’t night’s ___ or the day’s shame
That darkness does the face of earth entomb
When living light should kiss it?

thriftless

adj. wasteful or extravagant with money or resources

’Gainst nature still!
___ ambition, that will ravin up
Thine own lives’ means.

invest

v. provide with power and authority

He is already named and gone to Scone
To be ___