Shakespearean Vocabulary

Shakespearean Vocabulary

C

• Caitiff: Wretch (term of endearment). [Othello]
• Caliver: Light kind of musket or harquebus introduced during the 16th century; it seems to have been the lightest portable fire-arm, except the pistol, and was fired without a "rest." [King Henry IV, Part 1]
• Callet: Whore. [Othello]
• Cank'red, cankered: Rusty, malignant (a canker is a bud-destroying worm; hence cancer). [Romeo and Juliet]
• Cantons: Love songs (cantos). [Twelfth Night]
• Cap-a-pe: Fully armed from head to foot. [Hamlet]
• Carded: Mixed with something base. The word was in use from 1590 to 1635 for mixing different kinds of drink. [King Henry IV, Part 1]
• Carrion men: Decaying corpses. [Julius Caesar]
• Carrions: Living carcasses. [Julius Caesar]
• Cashiered: Dismissed (but not necessarily without honor). [Othello]
• Casing: All-embracing. [Macbeth]
• Catch: Musical round. [Twelfth Night]
• Cater-cousins: Close friends. [The Merchant of Venice]
• Caterwauling: Making a wailing noise like a cat. From Middle English cat + wawen, to wail (an onomatopoetic word, whose sound echoes its meaning). [Twelfth Night]
• Cautel: Craft. [Hamlet]
• Cerecloth: Shroud. [The Merchant of Venice]
• Cerements: Winding-sheets, shroud. [Hamlet]
• Certes: Assuredly. [Othello]
• Chafing with: Beating on. [Julius Caesar]
• Chalked forth: Indicated the direction. [The Tempest]

D

• Dallying: Fondling one another. [Hamlet]
• Date is out, the: It is no longer the fashion. [Romeo and Juliet]
• Dateless: Everlasting. [Romeo and Juliet]
• Daws: Jackdaws, or fools. [Othello]
• Dear account: Sad reckoning. In Elizabethan English the word "dear" intensified the meaning -- you could have a "dear friend" and a "dear enemy." [Romeo and Juliet]
• Death's-head: Skull. [The Merchant of Venice]
• Denotement: Careful observation. [Othello]
• Dilate: Tell fully. [Othello]
• Dismount thy tuck: Take thy rapier out of its scabbard or sheath. [Twelfth Night]
• Dissemble: Deceive. [Twelfth Night]
• Distaff: The spinning staff, and hence symbol of the woman. [King Lear]
• Distemperature: Illness or other physical disorder. [King Henry IV, Part 1]
• Do my duties: Voice my loyalty. [Othello]
• Dog at: Clever at. [Twelfth Night]
• Doit: Cheap coin. [The Merchant of Venice]
• Dormouse valour: Small amount of bravery. [Twelfth Night]
• Doublet: Lined jacket. [King Henry IV, Part 1]
• Doves: The Chariot of Venus was drawn by doves, which were sacred to her. [Romeo and Juliet]
• Down-gyved: Fallen, like shackles, about the ankles. [Hamlet]
• Drabbing: Associating with prostitutes. [Hamlet]
• Dram: Small amount. [Twelfth Night]
• Dropping fire: Thunderbolts. [Julius Caesar]