Part IV, Chapter 22: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare, Act 2

In this comedy, two Athenian couples and a troupe of actors become unwitting pawns in a squabble between a fairy king and queen.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. dale
    an open valley in a hilly area
    Over hill, over dale,
    Thorough bush, thorough brier,
    Over park, over pale,
    Thorough flood, thorough fire:
    I do wander everywhere
  2. anon
    (old-fashioned or informal) in a little while
    Our queen and all her elves come here anon.
  3. wrath
    belligerence aroused by a real or supposed wrong
    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, stol'n from an Indian king:
    She never had so sweet a changeling.
    Today wrath is generally used a noun, but Shakespeare uses the word adjectivally, to mean "extremely angry and irate." The adjective fell likewise means "angry and violent."
  4. changeling
    a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
    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, stol'n from an Indian king:
    She never had so sweet a changeling.
  5. shrewd
    good at tricking people to get something
    Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
    Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
    Called Robin Goodfellow.
  6. knave
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
    Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
    Called Robin Goodfellow.
  7. beguile
    influence by slyness
    I jest to Oberon, and make him smile,
    When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
    Neighing in likeness of a filly foal
  8. tarry
    stay longer than you should
    Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?
  9. progeny
    the immediate descendants of a person
    And this same progeny of evils comes
    From our debate, from our dissension:
    We are their parents and original.
  10. dissension
    a conflict of people's opinions, actions, or characters
    And this same progeny of evils comes
    From our debate, from our dissension;
    We are their parents and original.
  11. wanton
    indulgent in immoral or improper behavior
    When we have laughed 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
  12. gait
    a person's manner of walking
    When we have laughed 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
  13. promontory
    a natural elevation
    Since once I sat upon a promontory,
    Before, milk-white; now purple with love's wound,
    And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
    Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
    That the rude sea grew civil at her song
  14. dulcet
    pleasing to the ear
    Since once I sat upon a promontory,
    Before, milk-white; now purple with love's wound,
    And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
    Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
    That the rude sea grew civil at her song
  15. chaste
    morally pure
    But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
    Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon:
    And the imperial vot'ress passed on,
    In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
  16. leviathan
    monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament
    Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
    Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
  17. entice
    provoke someone to do something through persuasion
    Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
  18. fawn
    try to gain favor through flattery or deferential behavior
    I am your spaniel: and Demetrius,
    The more you beat me, I will fawn on you.
  19. spurn
    reject with contempt
    Use me but as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me,
    Neglect me, lose me: only give me leave
    Unworthy as I am, to follow you.
  20. impeach
    challenge the honesty or veracity of
    You do impeach your modesty too much,
    To leave the city and commit yourself
    Into the hands of one that loves you not
  21. woo
    make amorous advances towards
    We cannot fight for love, as men may do:
    We should be wooed, and were not made to woo.
  22. disdainful
    expressing extreme contempt
    Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove:
    A sweet Athenian lady is in love
    With a disdainful youth
  23. anoint
    administer an oil or ointment to, often ceremonially
    ...anoint his eyes,
    But do it when the next thing he espies
    May be the lady.
  24. espy
    catch sight of
    ...anoint his eyes,
    But do it when the next thing he espies
    May be the lady.
  25. clamorous
    conspicuously and offensively loud
    ...some keep back
    The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
    At our quaint spirits.
  26. quaint
    strange in an interesting or pleasing way
    ...some keep back
    The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
    At our quaint spirits.
  27. nigh
    near in time or place or relationship
    Never harm
    Nor spell nor charm
    Come our lovely lady nigh.
    So good night, with lullaby.
  28. sentinel
    a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
    One aloof stand sentinel.
  29. languish
    lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
    What thou seest, when thou dost wake,
    Do it for thy true love take:
    Love and languish for his sake.
  30. dissemble
    hide under a false appearance
    What wicked and dissembling glass of mine,
    Made me compare with Hermia’s sphery eyne?
  31. tedious
    so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
    Content with Hermia? No: I do repent
    The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
  32. flout
    laugh at with contempt and derision
    Is't not enough, is't not enough, young man,
    That I did never, no, nor never can,
    Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius' eye,
    But you must flout my insufficiency?
  33. surfeit
    the state of being more than full
    For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
    The deepest loathing to the stomach brings:
    Or as the heresies that men do leave,
    Are hated most of those they did deceive:
    So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
    Of all be hated; but the most, of me
  34. heresy
    a belief that rejects the orthodox tenets of a religion
    For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
    The deepest loathing to the stomach brings:
    Or as the heresies that men do leave,
    Are hated most of those they did deceive:
    So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
    Of all be hated; but the most, of me
  35. swoon
    pass out from weakness or physical or emotional distress
    I swoon almost with fear.
Created on Tue Jun 22 17:00:22 EDT 2021 (updated Thu Jul 22 15:37:17 EDT 2021)

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