Julius Caesar: Act 4

by William Shakespeare
Brutus is a trusted confidant of the Roman general Julius Caesar, but when he becomes convinced that Caesar's ambitions are a threat to the republic, he plots his friend's assassination. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5

Here are links to our lists for other plays by William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, Hamlet, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night, Measure for Measure, Othello, A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. provender
    food for domestic livestock
    So is my horse, Octavius, and for that
    I do appoint him store of provender.
  2. corporal
    affecting the body as opposed to the mind or spirit
    It is a creature that I teach to fight,
    To wind, to stop, to run directly on,
    His corporal motion governed by my spirit;
    And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so.
  3. covert
    secret or hidden
    Therefore let our alliance be combined,
    Our best friends made, our means stretched;
    And let us presently go sit in council
    How covert matters may be best disclosed
    And open perils surest answerèd.
  4. salutation
    an act of honor or courteous recognition
    He is at hand, and Pindarus is come
    To do you salutation from his master.
  5. mettle
    the courage to carry on
    There are no tricks in plain and simple faith;
    But hollow men, like horses hot at hand,
    Make gallant show and promise of their mettle.
  6. wrangle
    quarrel noisily, angrily, or disruptively
    Before the eyes of both our armies here
    (Which should perceive nothing but love from us),
    Let us not wrangle.
  7. chastisement
    verbal punishment
    The name of Cassius honors this corruption,
    And chastisement doth therefore hide his head.
  8. choleric
    quickly aroused to anger
    All this? Ay, more. Fret till your proud heart break.
    Go show your slaves how choleric you are
    And make your bondmen tremble.
  9. testy
    easily irritated or annoyed
    Must I observe you? Must I stand and crouch
    Under your testy humor?
  10. waspish
    very irritable
    For, from this day forth,
    I’ll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter,
    When you are waspish.
  11. vaunt
    show off
    You say you are a better soldier.
    Let it appear so, make your vaunting true,
    And it shall please me well.
  12. covetous
    showing extreme greed for material wealth
    When Marcus Brutus grows so covetous
    To lock such rascal counters from his friends,
    Be ready, gods, with all your thunderbolts;
    Dash him to pieces!
  13. expedition
    a military campaign in a foreign country
    Messala, I have here receivèd letters
    That young Octavius and Mark Antony
    Come down upon us with a mighty power,
    Bending their expedition toward Philippi.
  14. tenor
    the general meaning or substance of an utterance
    Myself have letters of the selfsame tenor.
  15. apparition
    a ghostly appearing figure
    I think it is the weakness of mine eyes
    That shapes this monstrous apparition.
Created on Mon Mar 11 14:16:25 EDT 2019 (updated Tue Jul 15 17:17:31 EDT 2025)

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