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An Exploration of the Elizabethan Age LANGUAGE CONTRIBUTIONS

DIRECTORY OF WORD LISTS
Golden Age of Elizabethan English
Golden Era Lexicon | Golden Era Alphabet
Shakespearean Lexicon |His Writing Devices
Words | Word Fails | Expressions | Idioms
Narrative of a Logophile Bardolatry
bardolatry refers to Shakespearean mania
RELATED POSTS
The Humor of a Shakespearean Insult
Shakespearean Translation of Star Trek ?

THE ELIZABETHAN LEXICON
Words common in the Golden Age

Shakespeare’s Word Wins and Word Fails
These words were used in the Elizabethan Era and frequently documented in Shakespeare’s works.

​AGNIZE: acknowledge. [Othello]

AIMED SO NEAR: guessed as much. [Romeo and Juliet]

ALARUM'D: summoned to action. [Macbeth]

BERATTLE: abuse. [Hamlet]

BESHREW: a curse, plague upon. [Hamlet]

BLAME. [Romeo and Juliet] confound. [Twelfth Night]

CALLET: whore. [Othello]

CANTONS: love songs (cantos). [Twelfth Night]

CIVET: perfume. [King Lear

CLODPOLE: blockhead. [Twelfth Night]

COBBLER: means bungler as well as shoemaker. [Julius Caesar]

CONTEMNED LOVE: love that is given but not returned. [Twelfth Night]

CRICKETS CRY: thought of as an omen of death. [Macbeth]

CULLIONLY BARBERMONGER: rascal who goes too often to the barber. [King Lear]

DEAR ACCOUNT: sad reckoning. In Elizabethan English the word "dear" intensified the meaning -- you could have a "dear friend" and a "dear enemy." [Romeo and Juliet]

DEATH'S-HEAD: skull. [The Merchant of Venice]

DRABBING: associating with prostitutes. [Hamlet]

DRAM: small amount. [Twelfth Night]

DROPPING FIRE: thunderbolts. [Julius Caesar]

DROPS OF SORROW: tears. [Macbeth]

DROSSY: frivolous. [Hamlet]

ELFLOCKS: when dirty hair became clotted together it was superstitiously put down to elves, hence "elflocks." [Romeo and Juliet]

EXTRAVAGANT AND ERRING: vagrant and wandering (both used in original Latin sense, a common device of Shakespeare). [Hamlet]

EYES' WINDOWS: eyelids (shutters). [Romeo and Juliet]

FLEERING: the Elizabethan meaning combined our "fawning" and "sneering." [Julius Caesar]

FLIBBERTIGIBBET: the name of a devil; here and later Shakespeare takes the names of his devils -- Smulkin, Modo -- from a book by Samuel Harsnett published in 1603. The names also give the effect of the devils, fiends and goblins of folk mythology, which would come naturally to Tom o' Bedlam. [King Lear]

FLIRT-GILLS: loose women. "Gill" was a familiar or contemptuous term for a girl (as "Jack" for a boy). [Romeo and Juliet]

FOBBED: cheated. [King Henry IV, Part 1]

FOISON: harvest, abundance. [The Tempest]

FOOLS' ZANIES: clowns' assistants. [Twelfth Night]

FOPPED: duped. [Othello]

FORDID: destroyed. [King Lear]; destroys. [Othello]

FORKS: legs. [King Lear]

FULSOME: fat. [The Merchant of Venice]

GOODYEARS: the word is usually taken to refer to the forces of evil, in accordance with the folk tradition of calling evil spirits by innocent names, e.g., "little people" for "goblins." [King Lear]

HEAVE THE GORGE: become nauseated. [Othello]

HEAVY SUMMONS: a feeling of heavy drowsiness. [Macbeth]

HUGGER-MUGGER: secret haste. [Hamlet]

IDES: the 15th day of the month. [Julius Caesar]

ILL-DIVINING: foreboding evil. [Romeo and Juliet]

LEASING: the power of telling lies. [Twelfth Night
​
LEMAN: sweetheart. [Twelfth Night]

MAIDENHEAD: virginity. [Twelfth Night]

MISPRISION: misunderstanding. [Twelfth Night]

MOUNTEBANKS: charlatans who sell quack medicine. [Othello]

MOUSE-HUNT: one who runs after women. [Romeo and Juliet]

MOW: make faces. [The Tempest]

MUCH ADO: much trouble, fuss. [King Lear]

POOR PENNYWORTH: only a small quantity. [The Merchant of Venice]

PRATE: chatter, gossip. [Macbeth]

QUIDDITIES: subtle distinctions, hair-splitting. [Hamlet]

ROBUSTIOUS: ranting. [Hamlet]

SCANTED: ignored. [King Lear]; stingy. [King Lear]

SEATED IN THE MEAN: with neither too much nor too little. [The Merchant of Venice]

SIGNIFYING NOTHING: lacking sense or meaning. [Macbeth]

SIR-REVERENCE: filth, dung. "Sir-reverence" came to mean this because the word prefaced mention of unpleasant things (a corruption of "save your reverence;" i.e., excuse my mentioning it). [Romeo and Juliet]

STAR-CROSSED: fortunes were directed by the influence of the stars. The belief that our lives and fortune is influenced by the star under which we were born was a widespread superstition during the Elizabethan era. The belief is still all the rage today but we call it astrology. We get a sneak peek at what fortunes or misfortunes to expect in daily horoscopes. [Romeo and Juliet]

SWEET FRIENDS: the two lips. [The Merchant of Venice]

SWOOPSTAKE: in a clean sweep. [Hamlet]

SWOUNDED: fainted. [Julius Caesar]

TRIMMED: dressed up. [Othello]

TRISTFUL: sorrowful. [Hamlet]

TROWEST: believe in or give credit to. [King Lear]

WEAK SUPPOSAL: of poor opinion. [Hamlet]

YOUNKER: sucker (colloquial) [King Henry IV, Part 1]; youngster. [The Merchant of Venice]
your mind hold: if you don't change your mind; if you are still sane. [Julius Caesar]

FAST FACT
​Honorificabilitudinitatibus is the longest word in Shakespeare’s works, and also the longest word in the English language featuring alternating consonants and vowels. It means ‘the state of being able to achieve honours’ and appears in Act V, Scene I of Love’s Labour’s Lost.
DIRECTORY OF WORD LISTS
Golden Age of Elizabethan English
Golden Era Lexicon | Golden Era Alphabet
Shakespearean Lexicon | The Bard’s Devices
Words | Word Fails | Expressions | Idioms
Narrative of a Logophile Bardolatry
bardolatry refers to Shakespearean mania
RELATED POSTS
The Humor of a Shakespearean Insult
Shakespearean Translation of Star Trek ?

​​LANGUAGE AND WORDS DIRECTORY
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