-
entreat
ask for or request earnestly
Therefore I have
entreated him along
With us to watch the minutes of this night;
That if again this apparition come,
He may approve our eyes and speak to it.
-
usurp
seize and take control without authority
What art thou that
usurp'st this time of night,
Together with that fair and warlike form
In which the majesty of buried Denmark
Did sometimes march?
-
moiety
a part or portion of something
...our valiant Hamlet—
For so this side of our known world esteem'd him—
Did slay this Fortinbras; who by a seal'd compact,
Well ratified by law and heraldry,
Did forfeit, with his life, all those his lands
Which he stood seized of, to the conqueror:
Against the which, a
moiety competent
Was gaged by our king
-
portentous
ominously prophetic
Well may it sort that this
portentous figure
Comes armed through our watch, so like the king
That was and is the question of these wars.
-
harbinger
something indicating the approach of something or someone
As
harbingers preceding still the fates
And prologue to the omen coming on,
Have heaven and earth together demonstrated
Unto our climatures and countrymen.
-
partisan
a pike with a long tapering blade with lateral projections
Shall I strike at it with my
partisan?
-
hallowed
worthy of religious veneration
The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike,
No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm,
So
hallow'd and so gracious is the time.
-
discretion
the trait of judging wisely and objectively
Though yet of Hamlet our dear brother's death
The memory be green, and that it us befitted
To bear our hearts in grief and our whole kingdom
To be contracted in one brow of woe,
Yet so far hath
discretion fought with nature
That we with wisest sorrow think on him,
Together with remembrance of ourselves.
-
auspicious
indicating favorable circumstances and good luck
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,—
With an
auspicious and a dropping eye,
With mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,—
Taken to wife
-
mirth
great merriment
Therefore our sometime sister, now our queen,
The imperial jointress to this warlike state,
Have we, as 'twere with a defeated joy,—
With an auspicious and a dropping eye,
With
mirth in funeral and with dirge in marriage,
In equal scale weighing delight and dole,—
Taken to wife
-
beseech
ask for or request earnestly
He hath, my lord, wrung from me my slow leave
By laboursome petition, and at last
Upon his will I seal'd my hard consent:
I do
beseech you, give him leave to go.
-
visage
the appearance conveyed by a person's face
'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected 'havior of the
visage,
Together with all forms, moods, shapes of grief,
That can denote me truly
-
filial
relating to or characteristic of or befitting an offspring
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In
filial obligation for some term
To do obsequious sorrow
-
obsequious
attentive in an ingratiating or servile manner
But, you must know, your father lost a father;
That father lost, lost his, and the survivor bound
In filial obligation for some term
To do
obsequious sorrow
-
impious
lacking due respect or dutifulness
...but to persevere
In obstinate condolement is a course
Of
impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief
-
retrograde
moving or directed or tending in a backward direction
For your intent
In going back to school in Wittenberg,
It is most
retrograde to our desire:
And we beseech you, bend you to remain
Here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye,
Our chiefest courtier, cousin, and our son.
-
jocund
full of or showing high-spirited merriment
This gentle and unforced accord of Hamlet
Sits smiling to my heart: in grace whereof,
No
jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day,
But the great cannon to the clouds shall tell,
And the king's rouse the heavens shall bruit again,
Re-speaking earthly thunder.
-
discourse
extended verbal expression in speech or writing
O, God! a beast that wants
discourse of reason,
Would have mourn'd longer—married with my uncle,
My father's brother, but no more like my father
Than I to Hercules: within a month
-
countenance
the appearance conveyed by a person's face
A
countenance more in sorrow than in anger.
-
sable
a very dark black
It was, as I have seen it in his life,
A
sable silver'd.
-
besmirch
smear so as to make dirty or stained
Perhaps he loves you now,
And now no soil nor cautel doth
besmirch
The virtue of his will: but you must fear,
His greatness weigh'd, his will is not his own
For he himself is subject to his birth
-
chary
characterized by great caution
The
chariest maid is prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon
-
prodigal
recklessly wasteful
The chariest maid is
prodigal enough,
If she unmask her beauty to the moon
-
canker
a fungal disease of woody plants that damages the bark
The
canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their buttons be disclosed,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blastments are most imminent.
-
libertine
a dissolute person
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless
libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.
-
unfledged
young and inexperienced
Those friends thou hast, and their adoption tried,
Grapple them to thy soul with hoops of steel,
But do not dull thy palm with entertainment
Of each new-hatch'd,
unfledged comrade.
-
censure
harsh criticism or disapproval
Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;
Take each man's
censure, but reserve thy judgment.
-
parley
discuss, as between enemies
Set your entreatments at a higher rate
Than a command to
parley.
-
beguile
influence by slyness
Do not believe his vows; for they are brokers,
Not of that dye which their investments show,
But mere implorators of unholy suits,
Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,
The better to
beguile.
-
traduce
speak unfavorably about
This heavy-headed revel east and west
Makes us
traduced and tax'd of other nations
-
pith
the choicest or most vital part of some idea or experience
They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase
Soil our addition; and indeed it takes
From our achievements, though perform'd at height,
The
pith and marrow of our attribute.
-
livery
uniform worn by some menservants and chauffeurs
...these men,
Carrying, I say, the stamp of one defect,
Being nature's
livery, or fortune's star,—
Their virtues else—be they as pure as grace,
As infinite as man may undergo—
Shall in the general censure take corruption
From that particular fault
-
canonize
declare (a dead person) to be a saint
King, father, royal Dane: O, answer me!
Let me not burst in ignorance; but tell
Why thy
canonized bones, hearsed in death,
Have burst their cerements
-
adulterate
mixed with impurities
Aye, that incestuous, that
adulterate beast,
With witchcraft of his wit, with traitorous gifts,—
O wicked wit and gifts, that have the power
So to seduce!
-
enmity
a state of deep-seated ill-will
Sleeping within my orchard,
My custom always of the afternoon,
Upon my secure hour thy uncle stole,
With juice of cursed hebenon in a vial,
And in the porches of my ears did pour
The leperous distilment; whose effect
Holds such an
enmity with blood of man
That swift as quicksilver it courses through
The natural gates and alleys of the body
-
contrive
make or work out a plan for; devise
But, howsoever thou pursuest this act,
Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul
contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven
And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her.
-
pernicious
working or spreading in a hidden and usually injurious way
O most
pernicious woman!
O villain, villain, smiling, damned villain!
-
arrant
without qualification; used informally as intensifiers
There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he's an
arrant knave.
-
knave
a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
There's ne'er a villain dwelling in all Denmark
But he's an arrant
knave.
-
antic
ludicrously odd
Here, as before, never, so help you mercy,
How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself,
As I perchance hereafter shall think meet
To put an
antic disposition on,
That you, at such times seeing me, never shall,
With arms encumber'd thus, or this headshake