The Tragedy of Macbeth: Act 2

by William Shakespeare
In this tragedy, Macbeth's belief in a prophecy and his ambition to become king lead to murder and madness. Read the full text of the play here.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV, and Act V
15 words 20125 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. entreat
    ask for or request earnestly
    I think not of them.
    Yet, when we can entreat an hour to serve,
    We would spend it in some words upon that business,
    If you would grant the time.
  2. augment
    enlarge or increase
    So I lose none
    In seeking to augment it, but still keep
    My bosom franchised and allegiance clear,
    I shall be counseled.
  3. palpable
    able to be felt by tactile examination
    I see thee yet, in form as palpable
    As this which now I draw.
  4. prate
    speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly
    Thou sure and firm-set earth,
    Hear not my steps, which way they walk, for fear
    Thy very stones prate of my whereabouts
    And take the present horror from the time,
    Which now suits with it.
  5. knell
    the sound of a bell rung slowly to announce a death
    The bell invites me.
    Hear it not, Duncan, for it is a knell
    That summons thee to heaven or to hell.
  6. surfeit
    indulge (one's appetite) to satiety
    He is about it.
    The doors are open, and the surfeited grooms
    Do mock their charge with snores. I have drugged their possets,
    That death and nature do contend about them
    Whether they live or die.
    Lady Macbeth explains that she has drugged the possets (hot alcoholic drinks) of the grooms, or servants. The grooms are surfeited: they have drunk their fill, and they are now asleep.
  7. multitudinous
    too numerous to be counted
    No, this my hand will rather
    The multitudinous seas incarnadine,
    Making the green one red.
  8. equivocate
    be deliberately ambiguous or unclear
    Faith, here’s an equivocator that could swear in both the scales against either scale, who committed treason enough for God’s sake yet could not equivocate to heaven.
  9. carouse
    celebrate or enjoy something in a noisy or wild way
    Faith, sir, we were carousing till the second cock, and drink, sir, is a great provoker of three things.
  10. requite
    make repayment for or return something
    That it did, sir, i’ th’ very throat on me; but I requited him for his lie, and, I think, being too strong for him, though he took up my legs sometime, yet I made a shift to cast him.
  11. sacrilegious
    grossly irreverent toward what is considered holy
    Confusion now hath made his masterpiece.
    Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope
    The Lord’s anointed temple and stole thence
    The life o’ th’ building.
  12. malice
    the quality of threatening evil
    Fears and scruples shake us.
    In the great hand of God I stand, and thence
    Against the undivulged pretense I fight
    Of treasonous malice.
  13. consort
    keep company with
    What will you do? Let’s not consort with them.
    To show an unfelt sorrow is an office
    Which the false man does easy.
  14. predominance
    the state of having superior power and influence over others
    Is ’t night’s predominance or the day’s shame
    That darkness does the face of earth entomb
    When living light should kiss it?
  15. suborn
    incite to commit a crime or an evil deed
    They were suborned.
    Malcolm and Donalbain, the King’s two sons,
    Are stol’n away and fled, which puts upon them
    Suspicion of the deed.
Created on Tue Feb 27 14:37:14 EST 2018 (updated Mon Aug 11 16:58:15 EDT 2025)

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