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Module 1: "Hamlet" by William Shakespeare, Act 5

40 words 10 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. heathen
    a person who does not acknowledge your god
    What, art a heathen? How dost thou
    understand the scripture?
  2. gallows
    an instrument from which a person is executed by hanging
    I like thy wit well, in good faith. The
    gallows does well. But how does it well? It does
    well to those that do ill. Now, thou dost ill to say the
    gallows is built stronger than the church. Argal, the
    gallows may do well to thee.
  3. circumvent
    beat through cleverness and wit
    This might be the pate of a politician which this ass
    now o’erreaches, one that would circumvent God,
    might it not?
  4. indenture
    formal agreement as to terms of a debt
    Will his vouchers vouch him no more
    of his purchases, and double ones too, than the
    length and breadth of a pair of indentures?
  5. equivocation
    intentional vagueness or ambiguity
    How absolute the knave is! we must speak by
    the card, or equivocation will undo us.
  6. flagon
    a large metal or pottery vessel with a handle and spout
    He poured a flagon of Rhenish on my head once.
  7. abhor
    feel hatred or disgust toward
    He hath bore me on his
    back a thousand times, and now how abhorred in
    my imagination it is!
  8. gibe
    an aggressive remark directed at a person like a missile
    Where be your gibes now?
  9. loam
    a rich soil consisting of sand, clay and organic materials
    Alexander died, Alexander was buried, Alexander
    returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth
    we make loam; and why of that loam whereto he
    was converted might they not stop a beer barrel?
  10. imperious
    having or showing arrogant superiority
    Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay,
    Might stop a hole to keep the wind away.
    O, that that earth which kept the world in awe
    Should patch a wall t’ expel the winter’s flaw
  11. betoken
    be a signal for or a symptom of
    The Queen, the courtiers. Who is this they follow?
    And with such maimèd rites? This doth betoken
    The corse they follow did with desp’rate hand
    Fordo its own life.
  12. requiem
    a song or hymn of mourning as a memorial to a dead person
    We should profane the service of the dead
    To sing a requiem and such rest to her
    As to peace-parted souls.
  13. churlish
    having a bad disposition; surly
    I tell thee, churlish priest,
    A minist’ring angel shall my sister be
    When thou liest howling.
  14. asunder
    into parts or pieces
    Pluck them asunder.
  15. pall
    lose strength or effectiveness
    Our indiscretion sometime serves us well
    When our deep plots do pall; and that should learn
    us
    There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
    Rough-hew them how we will—
  16. hew
    make or shape as with an axe
    Our indiscretion sometime serves us well
    When our deep plots do pall; and that should learn
    us
    There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,
    Rough-hew them how we will—
  17. tributary
    paying money, as for protection
    An earnest conjuration from the King,
    As England was his faithful tributary,
    As love between them like the palm might flourish,
    As peace should still her wheaten garland wear
    And stand a comma ’tween their amities,
    And many suchlike ases of great charge,
    That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
    Without debatement further, more or less,
    He should those bearers put to sudden death,
    Not shriving time allowed.
  18. amity
    a state of friendship and cordiality
    An earnest conjuration from the King,
    As England was his faithful tributary,
    As love between them like the palm might flourish,
    As peace should still her wheaten garland wear
    And stand a comma ’tween their amities,
    And many suchlike ases of great charge,
    That, on the view and knowing of these contents,
    Without debatement further, more or less,
    He should those bearers put to sudden death,
    Not shriving time allowed.
  19. insinuation
    an indirect (and usually malicious) implication
    Why, man, they did make love to this employment.
    They are not near my conscience. Their defeat
    Does by their own insinuation grow.
  20. sultry
    characterized by oppressive heat and humidity
    But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot
    for my complexion.
  21. perdition
    the place or state in which one suffers eternal punishment
    Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in
    you, though I know to divide him inventorially
    would dozy th’ arithmetic of memory, and yet but
    yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail.
  22. yaw
    swerve unpredictably from a set course
    Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in
    you, though I know to divide him inventorially
    would dozy th’ arithmetic of memory, and yet but
    yaw neither, in respect of his quick sail.
  23. verity
    conformity to reality or actuality
    But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of
    great article, and his infusion of such dearth and rareness
    as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his
    mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage,
    nothing more...
  24. extol
    praise, glorify, or honor
    But, in the verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of
    great article, and his infusion of such dearth and rareness
    as, to make true diction of him, his semblable is his
    mirror, and who else would trace him, his umbrage,
    nothing more...
  25. infallible
    incapable of failure or error
    Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.
  26. imputation
    a statement attributing something dishonest
    I mean, sir, for his weapon. But in the imputation
    laid on him by them, in his meed he’s
    unfellowed.
  27. poniard
    a dagger with a slender blade
    The King, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary
    horses, against the which he has impawned, as I
    take it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their
    assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so.
  28. edify
    make understand
    I knew you must be edified by the margent
    ere you had done.
  29. germane
    relevant and appropriate
    The phrase would be more germane to the
    matter, if we could carry a cannon by our sides.
  30. dote
    shower with love; show excessive affection for
    Thus has he (and many more of the same
    breed that I know the drossy age dotes on) only got
    the tune of the time, and, out of an habit of
    encounter, a kind of yeasty collection, which carries
    them through and through the most fanned
    and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to
    their trial, the bubbles are out.
  31. winnow
    select desirable parts from a group or list
    Thus has he (and many more of the same
    breed that I know the drossy age dotes on) only got
    the tune of the time, and, out of an habit of
    encounter, a kind of yeasty collection, which carries
    them through and through the most fanned
    and winnowed opinions; and do but blow them to
    their trial, the bubbles are out.
  32. augury
    an event indicating important things to come
    We defy augury. There is a
    special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be
    now, ’tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be
    now; if it be not now, yet it will come.
  33. ordnance
    large but transportable armament
    Set me the stoups of wine upon that table.—
    If Hamlet give the first or second hit
    Or quit in answer of the third exchange,
    Let all the battlements their ordnance fire.
  34. palpable
    capable of being perceived
    A hit, a very palpable hit.
  35. carouse
    celebrate or enjoy something in a noisy or wild way
    The Queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.
  36. felicity
    state of well-being characterized by contentment
    If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart,
    Absent thee from felicity awhile
    And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain
    To tell my story.
  37. quarry
    animal hunted or caught for food
    This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death,
    What feast is toward in thine eternal cell
    That thou so many princes at a shot
    So bloodily hast struck?
  38. havoc
    violent and needless disturbance
    This quarry cries on havoc. O proud Death,
    What feast is toward in thine eternal cell
    That thou so many princes at a shot
    So bloodily hast struck?
  39. carnal
    of or relating to the body or flesh
    So shall you hear
    Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
    Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
    Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
    And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
    Fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads.
  40. upshot
    a phenomenon that is caused by some previous phenomenon
    So shall you hear
    Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts,
    Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,
    Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,
    And, in this upshot, purposes mistook
    Fall’n on th’ inventors’ heads.
Created on Mon Jun 08 11:39:43 EDT 2020 (updated Tue Jun 09 11:00:44 EDT 2020)

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