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pansy

Unusual words from Shakespeare's "A Midsummer Night's Dream."rnrnList created with Vocabgrabber. http://www.vocabgrabber.com
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  1. engild
    decorate with, or as if with, gold leaf or liquid gold
    LYSANDER Lysander's love, that would not let him bide, Fair Helena, who more engilds the night Than all you fiery oes and eyes of light.
  2. blameful
    deserving blame or censure as being wrong or evil or injurious
    Anon comes Pyramus, sweet youth and tall, And finds his trusty Thisby's mantle slain: Whereat, with blade, with bloody blameful blade, He bravely broach'd is boiling bloody breast; And Thisby, tarrying in mulberry shade, His dagger drew, and died.
  3. love-in-idleness
    a common and long cultivated European herb from which most common garden pansies are derived
    Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
  4. yielder
    a person who yields or surrenders
    Their sense thus weak, lost with their fears thus strong, Made senseless things begin to do them wrong; For briers and thorns at their apparel snatch; Some sleeves, some hats, from yielders all things catch.
  5. shrewishness
    a nature given to nagging or scolding
    HELENA I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, Let her not hurt me: I was never curst; I have no gift at all in shrewishness; I am a right maid for my cowardice: Let her not strike me.
  6. doubler
    an electronic device that doubles the voltage or the frequency of an input signal
    An adder did it; for with doubler tongue Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung.
  7. barky
    resembling the rough bark of a tree
    Exeunt fairies So doth the woodbine the sweet honeysuckle Gently entwist; the female ivy so Enrings the barky fingers of the elm.
  8. musk rose
    rose native to Mediterranean region having curved or climbing branches and loose clusters of musky-scented flowers
    I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  9. oxlip
    Eurasian primrose with yellow flowers clustered in a one-sided umbel
    I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  10. unwished
    not welcome
    HERMIA So will I grow, so live, so die, my lord, Ere I will my virgin patent up Unto his lordship, whose unwished yoke My soul consents not to give sovereignty.
  11. crannied
    having small chinks or crannies
    Wall In this same interlude it doth befall That I, one Snout by name, present a wall; And such a wall, as I would have you think, That had in it a crannied hole or chink, Through which the lovers, Pyramus and Thisby, Did whisper often very secretly.
  12. acorn cup
    cup-shaped structure of hardened bracts at the base of an acorn
    PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild; But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy: And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, ...
  13. uncouple
    disconnect or separate
    Uncouple in the western valley; let them go: Dispatch, I say, and find the forester.
  14. premeditate
    consider, ponder, or plan beforehand
    Where I have come, great clerks have purposed To greet me with premeditated welcomes; Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, Make periods in the midst of sentences, Throttle their practised accent in their fears And in conclusion dumbly have broke off, Not paying me a welcome.
  15. double tongue
    play fast notes on a wind instrument
    The Fairies sing You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen.
  16. minimus
    the fifth digit; the little finger or little toe
    LYSANDER Get you gone, you dwarf; You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made; You bead, you acorn.
  17. ousel
    common black European thrush
    Sings The ousel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill,-- TITANIA [Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
  18. roundel
    English form of rondeau having three triplets with a refrain after the first and third
    Enter TITANIA, with her train TITANIA Come, now a roundel and a fairy song; Then, for the third part of a minute, hence; Some to kill cankers in the musk-rose buds, Some war with rere-mice for their leathern wings, To make my small elves coats, and some keep back The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders At our quaint spirits.
  19. fancy-free
    having no commitments or responsibilities; carefree
    OBERON That very time I saw, but thou couldst not, Flying between the cold moon and the earth, Cupid all arm'd: a certain aim he took At a fair vestal throned by the west, And loosed his love-shaft smartly from his bow, As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts; But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft Quench'd in the chaste beams of the watery moon, And the imperial votaress passed on, In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
  20. dewberry
    any of several trailing blackberry brambles especially of North America
    TITANIA Be kind and courteous to this gentleman; Hop in his walks and gambol in his eyes; Feed him with apricocks and dewberries, With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries; The honey-bags steal from the humble-bees, And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes, To have my love to bed and to arise; And pluck the wings from Painted butterflies To fan the moonbeams from his sleeping eyes: Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.
  21. obscenely
    in a lewd and obscene manner
    BOTTOM We will meet; and there we may rehearse most obscenely and courageously.
  22. trippingly
    moving with quick light steps
    Enter OBERON and TITANIA with their train OBERON Through the house give gathering light, By the dead and drowsy fire: Every elf and fairy sprite Hop as light as bird from brier; And this ditty, after me, Sing, and dance it trippingly.
  23. imbrue
    saturate or stain
    Tongue, not a word: Come, trusty sword; Come, blade, my breast imbrue: Stabs herself And, farewell, friends; Thus Thisby ends: Adieu, adieu, adieu.
  24. big-bellied
    having a prominent belly
    His mother was a votaress of my order: And, in the spiced Indian air, by night, Full often hath she gossip'd by my side, And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, Marking the embarked traders on the flood, When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait Following,--her womb then rich with my young squire,-- Would imitate, and sail upon the land, To fetch me trifles, and return again, As from a voy...
  25. overfly
    fly over
    Do not fret yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and, good mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not; I would be loath to have you overflown with a honey-bag, signior.
  26. love-token
    keepsake given as a token of love
    Stand forth, Lysander: and my gracious duke, This man hath bewitch'd the bosom of my child; Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her rhymes, And interchanged love-tokens with my child: Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung, With feigning voice verses of feigning love, And stolen the impression of her fantasy With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, messengers Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth: With cunning hast thou filch'...
  27. aweary
    physically and mentally fatigued
    HIPPOLYTA I am aweary of this moon: would he would change!
  28. throstle
    common Old World thrush noted for its song
    Sings The ousel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill,-- TITANIA [Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
  29. simpleness
    the quality of being simple or uncompounded
    THESEUS I will hear that play; For never anything can be amiss, When simpleness and duty tender it.
  30. videlicet
    as follows
    DEMETRIUS And thus she means, videlicet:-- Thisbe Asleep, my love?
  31. chough
    a European corvine bird of small or medium size with red legs and glossy black plumage
    When they him spy, As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, Rising and cawing at the gun's report, Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky, So, at his sight, away his fellows fly; And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls; He murder cries and help from Athens calls.
  32. wormy
    infested with or damaged (as if eaten) by worms
    PUCK My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger; At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, That in crossways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone; For fear lest day should look their shames upon, They willfully themselves exile from light And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
  33. barm
    a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells
    Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  34. rushy
    abounding in rushes
    TITANIA These are the forgeries of jealousy: And never, since the middle summer's spring, Met we on hill, in dale, forest or mead, By paved fountain or by rushy brook, Or in the beached margent of the sea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our sport.
  35. beshrew
    wish harm or evil upon
    HERMIA Lysander riddles very prettily: Now much beshrew my manners and my pride, If Hermia meant to say Lysander lied.
  36. Robin Goodfellow
    a mischievous sprite of English folklore
    Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  37. body forth
    represent in bodily form
    The lunatic, the lover and the poet Are of imagination all compact: One sees more devils than vast hell can hold, That is, the madman: the lover, all as frantic, Sees Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt: The poet's eye, in fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; And as imagination bodies forth The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name.
  38. mazed
    perplexed by many conflicting situations or statements
    Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents: The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard; The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, And the ...
  39. dewlap
    a hanging fold of loose skin on an elderly person's neck
    I jest to Oberon and make him smile When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal: And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab, And when she drinks, against her lips I bob And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
  40. abridgement
    a shortened version of a written work
    THESEUS Say, what abridgement have you for this evening?
  41. stand sentinel
    watch over so as to protect
    Fairy Hence, away! now all is well: One aloof stand sentinel.
  42. aby
    make amends for
    DEMETRIUS Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.
  43. lily-white
    of a pure white color
    FLUTE Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue, Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier, Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew, As true as truest horse that yet would never tire, I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
  44. quern
    a primitive stone mill for grinding corn by hand
    Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  45. measure out
    determine the measurements of something or somebody, take measurements of
    Faintness constraineth me To measure out my length on this cold bed.
  46. wild thyme
    aromatic dwarf shrub common on banks and hillsides in Europe
    I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  47. avouch
    admit openly and bluntly
    Demetrius, I'll avouch it to his head, Made love to Nedar's daughter, Helena, And won her soul; and she, sweet lady, dotes, Devoutly dotes, dotes in idolatry, Upon this spotted and inconstant man.
  48. perjure
    make oneself guilty of telling untruths in a court of law
    As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjured every where: For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne, He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
  49. floweret
    a diminutive flower
    Her dotage now I do begin to pity: For, meeting her of late behind the wood, Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool, I did upbraid her and fall out with her; For she his hairy temples then had rounded With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers; And that same dew, which sometime on the buds Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls, Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
  50. transfigure
    completely change the nature or appearance of
    HIPPOLYTA But all the story of the night told over, And all their minds transfigured so together, More witnesseth than fancy's images And grows to something of great constancy; But, howsoever, strange and admirable.
  51. transpose
    change the order or arrangement of
    Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know: And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes, So I, admiring of his qualities: Things base and vile, folding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind: Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
  52. venturous
    disposed to take risks
    TITANIA I have a venturous fairy that shall seek The squirrel's hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
  53. gaud
    cheap showy jewelry or ornament on clothing
    But, my good lord, I wot not by what power,-- But by some power it is,--my love to Hermia, Melted as the snow, seems to me now As the remembrance of an idle gaud Which in my childhood I did dote upon; And all the faith, the virtue of my heart, The object and the pleasure of mine eye, Is only Helena.
  54. Acheron
    (Greek mythology) a river in Hades across which the souls of the dead were carried by Charon
    OBERON Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; The starry welkin cover thou anon With drooping fog as black as Acheron, And lead these testy rivals so astray As one come not within another's way.
  55. batty
    informal or slang terms for mentally irregular
    Like to Lysander sometime frame thy tongue, Then stir Demetrius up with bitter wrong; And sometime rail thou like Demetrius; And from each other look thou lead them thus, Till o'er their brows death-counterfeiting sleep With leaden legs and batty wings doth creep: Then crush this herb into Lysander's eye; Whose liquor hath this virtuous property, To take from thence all error with his might, And make his eyeballs roll with wonted sight.
  56. starveling
    someone who is starving (or being starved)
    Enter QUINCE, SNUG, BOTTOM, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING QUINCE Is all our company here?
  57. rough in
    prepare in preliminary or sketchy form
    Enter Lion and Moonshine Lion You, ladies, you, whose gentle hearts do fear The smallest monstrous mouse that creeps on floor, May now perchance both quake and tremble here, When lion rough in wildest rage doth roar.
  58. sweet-faced
    having a pleasing face or one showing a sweet disposition
    QUINCE You can play no part but Pyramus; for Pyramus is a sweet-faced man; a proper man, as one shall see in a summer's day; a most lovely gentleman-like man: therefore you must needs play Pyramus.
  59. colly
    make soiled, filthy, or dirty
    LYSANDER Or, if there were a sympathy in choice, War, death, or sickness did lay siege to it, Making it momentany as a sound, Swift as a shadow, short as any dream; Brief as the lightning in the collied night, That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth, And ere a man hath power to say 'Behold!'
  60. hipped
    having hips; or having hips as specified
    BOTTOM Mounsieur Cobweb, good mounsieur, get you your weapons in your hand, and kill me a red-hipped humble-bee on the top of a thistle; and, good mounsieur, bring me the honey-bag.
  61. parlous
    fraught with danger
    SNOUT By'r lakin, a parlous fear.
  62. waggish
    witty or joking
    As waggish boys in game themselves forswear, So the boy Love is perjured every where: For ere Demetrius look'd on Hermia's eyne, He hail'd down oaths that he was only mine; And when this hail some heat from Hermia felt, So he dissolved, and showers of oaths did melt.
  63. undistinguishable
    not capable of being distinguished or differentiated
    Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents: The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard; The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, And the ...
  64. puck
    a vulcanized rubber disk used in ice hockey
    Enter, from opposite sides, a Fairy, and PUCK PUCK How now, spirit! whither wander you?
  65. hempen
    having or resembling fibers especially fibers used in making cordage such as those of jute
    Enter PUCK behind PUCK What hempen home-spuns have we swaggering here, So near the cradle of the fairy queen?
  66. mender
    a skilled worker who mends or repairs things
    QUINCE Francis Flute, the bellows-mender.
  67. dwarfish
    atypically small
    And are you grown so high in his esteem; Because I am so dwarfish and so low?
  68. skim milk
    milk from which the cream has been skimmed
    Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  69. mocker
    someone who jeers or mocks or treats something with contempt or calls out in derision
    HELENA Never did mockers waste more idle breath.
  70. reprehend
    express strong disapproval of
    And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all.
  71. crossways
    transversely
    PUCK My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger; At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, That in crossways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone; For fear lest day should look their shames upon, They willfully themselves exile from light And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
  72. seethe
    foam as if boiling
    Lovers and madmen have such seething brains, Such shaping fantasies, that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends.
  73. preposterously
    so as to arouse or deserve laughter
    PUCK Then will two at once woo one; That must needs be sport alone; And those things do best please me That befal preposterously.
  74. condole
    express one's sympathy on the occasion of someone's death
    BOTTOM That will ask some tears in the true performing of it: if I do it, let the audience look to their eyes; I will move storms, I will condole in some measure.
  75. green corn
    a corn plant developed in order to have young ears that are sweet and suitable for eating
    Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents: The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard; The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, A...
  76. unearned
    not gained by merit or labor or service
    And this weak and idle theme, No more yielding but a dream, Gentles, do not reprehend: if you pardon, we will mend: And, as I am an honest Puck, If we have unearned luck Now to 'scape the serpent's tongue, We will make amends ere long; Else the Puck a liar call; So, good night unto you all.
  77. curst
    deserving a curse; sometimes used as an intensifier
    HELENA I pray you, though you mock me, gentlemen, Let her not hurt me: I was never curst; I have no gift at all in shrewishness; I am a right maid for my cowardice: Let her not strike me.
  78. knavish
    marked by skill in deception
    Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  79. bootless
    unproductive of success
    Fairy Either I mistake your shape and making quite, Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite Call'd Robin Goodfellow: are not you he That frights the maidens of the villagery; Skim milk, and sometimes labour in the quern And bootless make the breathless housewife churn; And sometime make the drink to bear no barm; Mislead night-wanderers, laughing at their harm?
  80. Hecate
    (Greek mythology) Greek goddess of fertility who later became associated with Persephone as goddess of the underworld and protector of witches
    Now it is the time of night That the graves all gaping wide, Every one lets forth his sprite, In the church-way paths to glide: And we fairies, that do run By the triple Hecate's team, From the presence of the sun, Following darkness like a dream, Now are frolic: not a mouse Shall disturb this hallow'd house: I am sent with broom before, To sweep the dust behind the door.
  81. crossway
    a junction where one street or road crosses another
    PUCK My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger; At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, That in crossways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone; For fear lest day should look their shames upon, They willfully themselves exile from light And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
  82. dulcet
    pleasing to the ear
    Thou rememberest Since once I sat upon a promontory, And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath That the rude sea grew civil at her song And certain stars shot madly from their spheres, To hear the sea-maid's music.
  83. extenuate
    lessen or to try to lessen the seriousness or degree of
    For you, fair Hermia, look you arm yourself To fit your fancies to your father's will; Or else the law of Athens yields you up-- Which by no means we may extenuate-- To death, or to a vow of single life.
  84. maypole
    a vertical pole or post decorated with streamers that can be held by dancers celebrating May Day
    How low am I, thou painted maypole? speak; How low am I? I am not yet so low But that my nails can reach unto thine eyes.
  85. tongue-tied
    unable to express yourself clearly or fluently
    Love, therefore, and tongue-tied simplicity In least speak most, to my capacity.
  86. song and dance
    theatrical performance combining singing and dancing
    Song and dance OBERON Now, until the break of day, Through this house each fairy stray.
  87. jangle
    make a sound typical of metallic objects
    And so far blameless proves my enterprise, That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes; And so far am I glad it so did sort As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
  88. woodbine
    common North American vine with compound leaves and bluish-black berrylike fruit
    I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  89. changeling
    a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
    PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild; But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy: And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain ...
  90. Thessalian
    a native or inhabitant of Thessaly
    THESEUS My hounds are bred out of the Spartan kind, So flew'd, so sanded, and their heads are hung With ears that sweep away the morning dew; Crook-knee'd, and dew-lapp'd like Thessalian bulls; Slow in pursuit, but match'd in mouth like bells, Each under each.
  91. unloved
    not loved
    What thought I be not so in grace as you, So hung upon with love, so fortunate, But miserable most, to love unloved?
  92. hobgoblin
    (folklore) a small, ugly creature that causes trouble
    Those that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck, You do their work, and they shall have good luck: Are not you he?
  93. willfully
    in a willful manner
    PUCK My fairy lord, this must be done with haste, For night's swift dragons cut the clouds full fast, And yonder shines Aurora's harbinger; At whose approach, ghosts, wandering here and there, Troop home to churchyards: damned spirits all, That in crossways and floods have burial, Already to their wormy beds are gone; For fear lest day should look their shames upon, They willfully themselves exile from light And must for aye consort with black-brow'd night.
  94. bacchanal
    a wild gathering
    Reads 'The riot of the tipsy Bacchanals, Tearing the Thracian singer in their rage.'
  95. hernia
    rupture in tissue through which a bodily structure protrudes
    HERNIA I understand not what you mean by this.
  96. dissembling
    pretending with intention to deceive
    What wicked and dissembling glass of mine Made me compare with Hermia's sphery eyne?
  97. sampler
    someone who samples food or drink for its quality
    We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, Both warbling of one song, both in one key, As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds, Had been incorporate.
  98. dewdrop
    a drop of dew
    The cowslips tall her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours: I must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
  99. canopied
    covered with or as with a canopy
    I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  100. scare away
    cause to lose courage
    This grisly beast, which Lion hight by name, The trusty Thisby, coming first by night, Did scare away, or rather did affright; And, as she fled, her mantle she did fall, Which Lion vile with bloody mouth did stain.
  101. bladed
    having a blade or blades; often used in combination
    LYSANDER Helen, to you our minds we will unfold: To-morrow night, when Phoebe doth behold Her silver visage in the watery glass, Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass, A time that lovers' flights doth still conceal, Through Athens' gates have we devised to steal.
  102. bated
    diminished or moderated
    Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated, The rest I'd give to be to you translated.
  103. eglantine
    Eurasian rose with prickly stems and fragrant leaves and bright pink flowers followed by scarlet hips
    I know a bank where the wild thyme blows, Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows, Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine: There sleeps Titania sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight; And there the snake throws her enamell'd skin, Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in: And with the juice of this I'll streak her eyes, And make her full of hateful fantasies.
  104. quire
    a quantity of paper; 24 or 25 sheets
    The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And 'tailor' cries, and falls into a cough; And then the whole quire hold their hips and laugh, And waxen in their mirth and neeze and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there.
  105. Titania
    (Middle Ages) the queen of the fairies in medieval folklore
    Enter, from one side, OBERON, with his train; from the other, TITANIA, with hers OBERON Ill met by moonlight, proud Titania.
  106. signior
    used as an Italian courtesy title
    Do not fret yourself too much in the action, mounsieur; and, good mounsieur, have a care the honey-bag break not; I would be loath to have you overflown with a honey-bag, signior.
  107. disfigure
    mar or spoil the appearance of
    THESEUS What say you, Hermia? be advised fair maid: To you your father should be as a god; One that composed your beauties, yea, and one To whom you are but as a form in wax By him imprinted and within his power To leave the figure or disfigure it.
  108. congealed
    congealed into jelly; solidified by cooling
    That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow, Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
  109. provender
    food for domestic livestock
    BOTTOM Truly, a peck of provender: I could munch your good dry oats.
  110. heraldry
    the study, design, and classification of coats of arms
    So we grow together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet an union in partition; Two lovely berries moulded on one stem; So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart; Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, Due but to one and crowned with one crest.
  111. darkling
    uncannily or threateningly dark or obscure
    HELENA O, wilt thou darkling leave me? do not so.
  112. vixen
    a female fox
    She was a vixen when she went to school; And though she be but little, she is fierce.
  113. dotage
    mental infirmity as a consequence of old age
    Her dotage now I do begin to pity: For, meeting her of late behind the wood, Seeking sweet favours from this hateful fool, I did upbraid her and fall out with her; For she his hairy temples then had rounded With a coronet of fresh and fragrant flowers; And that same dew, which sometime on the buds Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls, Stood now within the pretty flowerets' eyes Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
  114. fowler
    someone who hunts wild birds for food
    When they him spy, As wild geese that the creeping fowler eye, Or russet-pated choughs, many in sort, Rising and cawing at the gun's report, Sever themselves and madly sweep the sky, So, at his sight, away his fellows fly; And, at our stamp, here o'er and o'er one falls; He murder cries and help from Athens calls.
  115. dumbly
    in an inarticulate manner
    Where I have come, great clerks have purposed To greet me with premeditated welcomes; Where I have seen them shiver and look pale, Make periods in the midst of sentences, Throttle their practised accent in their fears And in conclusion dumbly have broke off, Not paying me a welcome.
  116. extempore
    with little or no preparation or forethought
    QUINCE You may do it extempore, for it is nothing but roaring.
  117. recreant
    having deserted a cause or principle
    Come, recreant; come, thou child; I'll whip thee with a rod: he is defiled That draws a sword on thee.
  118. jangling
    like the discordant ringing of nonmusical metallic objects striking together
    And so far blameless proves my enterprise, That I have 'nointed an Athenian's eyes; And so far am I glad it so did sort As this their jangling I esteem a sport.
  119. warble
    sing or play with trills
    We, Hermia, like two artificial gods, Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion, Both warbling of one song, both in one key, As if our hands, our sides, voices and minds, Had been incorporate.
  120. maidenly
    befitting or characteristic of a maiden
    It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly: Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it, Though I alone do feel the injury.
  121. ninny
    a stupid foolish person
    FLUTE Most radiant Pyramus, most lily-white of hue, Of colour like the red rose on triumphant brier, Most brisky juvenal and eke most lovely Jew, As true as truest horse that yet would never tire, I'll meet thee, Pyramus, at Ninny's tomb.
  122. centaur
    a mythical being that is half man and half horse
    Giving a paper THESEUS [Reads] 'The battle with the Centaurs, to be sung By an Athenian eunuch to the harp.'
  123. chiding
    rebuking a person harshly
    HIPPOLYTA I was with Hercules and Cadmus once, When in a wood of Crete they bay'd the bear With hounds of Sparta: never did I hear Such gallant chiding: for, besides the groves, The skies, the fountains, every region near Seem'd all one mutual cry: I never heard So musical a discord, such sweet thunder.
  124. grossness
    the quality of lacking taste and refinement
    I am a spirit of no common rate; The summer still doth tend upon my state; And I do love thee: therefore, go with me; I'll give thee fairies to attend on thee, And they shall fetch thee jewels from the deep, And sing while thou on pressed flowers dost sleep; And I will purge thy mortal grossness so That thou shalt like an airy spirit go.
  125. spangle
    adornment consisting of a small piece of shiny material
    PUCK The king doth keep his revels here to-night: Take heed the queen come not within his sight; For Oberon is passing fell and wrath, Because that she as her attendant hath A lovely boy, stolen from an Indian king; She never had so sweet a changeling; And jealous Oberon would have the child Knight of his train, to trace the forests wild; But she perforce withholds the loved boy, Crowns him with flowers and makes him all her joy: And now they never meet in grove or green, By fountain clear, ...
  126. abjure
    formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief
    THESEUS Either to die the death or to abjure For ever the society of men.
  127. knavery
    lack of honesty; acts of lying or cheating or stealing
    Exit BOTTOM Why do they run away? this is a knavery of them to make me afeard.
  128. disparage
    express a negative opinion of
    DEMETRIUS Disparage not the faith thou dost not know, Lest, to thy peril, thou aby it dear.
  129. cowslip
    early spring flower common in British isles having fragrant yellow or sometimes purple flowers
    The cowslips tall her pensioners be: In their gold coats spots you see; Those be rubies, fairy favours, In those freckles live their savours: I must go seek some dewdrops here And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.
  130. joiner
    a person who likes to join groups
    QUINCE You, Pyramus' father: myself, Thisby's father: Snug, the joiner; you, the lion's part: and, I hope, here is a play fitted.
  131. milk-white
    of a white the color of fresh milk
    Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell: It fell upon a little western flower, Before milk-white, now purple with love's wound, And maidens call it love-in-idleness.
  132. playfellow
    a companion at play
    Farewell, sweet playfellow: pray thou for us; And good luck grant thee thy Demetrius!
  133. noontide
    the middle of the day
    I'll believe as soon This whole earth may be bored and that the moon May through the centre creep and so displease Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.
  134. welkin
    the apparent surface of the imaginary sphere on which celestial bodies appear to be projected
    OBERON Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; The starry welkin cover thou anon With drooping fog as black as Acheron, And lead these testy rivals so astray As one come not within another's way.
  135. bashfulness
    feeling embarrassed due to modesty
    Have you no modesty, no maiden shame, No touch of bashfulness?
  136. hindering
    preventing movement
    LYSANDER Get you gone, you dwarf; You minimus, of hindering knot-grass made; You bead, you acorn.
  137. frown upon
    look disapprovingly upon
    HERMIA I frown upon him, yet he loves me still.
  138. lob
    propel in a high arc
    Farewell, thou lob of spirits; I'll be gone: Our queen and all our elves come here anon.
  139. antipodes
    two places on direct opposite sides of the Earth
    I'll believe as soon This whole earth may be bored and that the moon May through the centre creep and so displease Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.
  140. paramour
    a lover, especially a secret or illicit one
    QUINCE Yea and the best person too; and he is a very paramour for a sweet voice.
  141. testy
    easily irritated or annoyed
    OBERON Thou see'st these lovers seek a place to fight: Hie therefore, Robin, overcast the night; The starry welkin cover thou anon With drooping fog as black as Acheron, And lead these testy rivals so astray As one come not within another's way.
  142. belike
    with considerable certainty; without much doubt
    HERMIA Belike for want of rain, which I could well Beteem them from the tempest of my eyes.
  143. beggary
    the state of being a beggar or mendicant
    Reads 'The thrice three Muses mourning for the death Of Learning, late deceased in beggary.'
  144. wren
    a small active brown bird of the northern hemisphere
    Sings The ousel cock so black of hue, With orange-tawny bill, The throstle with his note so true, The wren with little quill,-- TITANIA [Awaking] What angel wakes me from my flowery bed?
  145. churl
    a crude or uncouth person lacking culture or refinement
    Churl, upon thy eyes I throw All the power this charm doth owe.
  146. enthralled
    filled with wonder and delight
    TITANIA I pray thee, gentle mortal, sing again: Mine ear is much enamour'd of thy note; So is mine eye enthralled to thy shape; And thy fair virtue's force perforce doth move me On the first view to say, to swear, I love thee.
  147. doting
    extravagantly or foolishly loving and indulgent
    Demetrius thinks not so; He will not know what all but he do know: And as he errs, doting on Hermia's eyes, So I, admiring of his qualities: Things base and vile, folding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind; And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind: Nor hath Love's mind of any judgement taste; Wings and no eyes figure unheedy haste: And therefore is Love said to be a child, Because in choice he is so oft beguiled.
  148. bellied
    having a belly; often used in combination
    His mother was a votaress of my order: And, in the spiced Indian air, by night, Full often hath she gossip'd by my side, And sat with me on Neptune's yellow sands, Marking the embarked traders on the flood, When we have laugh'd to see the sails conceive And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind; Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait Following,--her womb then rich with my young squire,-- Would imitate, and sail upon the land, To fetch me trifles, and return again, As from a voy...
  149. antipode
    direct opposite
    I'll believe as soon This whole earth may be bored and that the moon May through the centre creep and so displease Her brother's noontide with Antipodes.
  150. leek
    plant having a large slender white bulb and flat overlapping dark green leaves; used in cooking; believed derived from the wild Allium ampeloprasum
    These My lips, This cherry nose, These yellow cowslip cheeks, Are gone, are gone: Lovers, make moan: His eyes were green as leeks.
  151. Ariadne
    beautiful daughter of Minos and Pasiphae
    And make him with fair AEgle break his faith, With Ariadne and Antiopa?
  152. rote
    memorization by repetition
    TITANIA First, rehearse your song by rote To each word a warbling note: Hand in hand, with fairy grace, Will we sing, and bless this place.
  153. scrip
    a certificate whose value is recognized by the payer and payee; scrip is not currency but may be convertible into currency
    BOTTOM You were best to call them generally, man by man, according to the scrip.
  154. archery
    the sport of shooting arrows with a bow
    Exit OBERON Flower of this purple dye, Hit with Cupid's archery, Sink in apple of his eye.
  155. unsay
    take back what one has said
    HELENA Call you me fair? that fair again unsay.
  156. headless
    not having a head or formed without a head
    Exeunt QUINCE, SNUG, FLUTE, SNOUT, and STARVELING PUCK I'll follow you, I'll lead you about a round, Through bog, through bush, through brake, through brier: Sometime a horse I'll be, sometime a hound, A hog, a headless bear, sometime a fire; And neigh, and bark, and grunt, and roar, and burn, Like horse, hound, hog, bear, fire, at every turn.
  157. Taurus
    a zodiacal constellation in the northern hemisphere near Orion; between Aries and Gemini
    That pure congealed white, high Taurus snow, Fann'd with the eastern wind, turns to a crow When thou hold'st up thy hand: O, let me kiss This princess of pure white, this seal of bliss!
  158. odorous
    having a characteristic aroma
    Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents: The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard; The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, And the ...
  159. hedgehog
    a small, insect-eating mammal with long spines
    The Fairies sing You spotted snakes with double tongue, Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen; Newts and blind-worms, do no wrong, Come not near our fairy queen.
  160. chaplet
    a circular band of flowers or other foliage
    Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land Have every pelting river made so proud That they have overborne their continents: The ox hath therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman lost his sweat, and the green corn Hath rotted ere his youth attain'd a beard; The fold stands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrion flock; The nine men's morris is fill'd up with mud, And the ...
  161. foal
    a young horse
    I jest to Oberon and make him smile When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal: And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab, And when she drinks, against her lips I bob And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
  162. filly
    a young female horse under the age of four
    I jest to Oberon and make him smile When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal: And sometime lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab, And when she drinks, against her lips I bob And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale.
Created on Sat Oct 30 21:03:26 EDT 2010

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