Five Revenge Tragedies: The Spanish Tragedy, Hamlet, Antonio's Revenge, The Tragedy of Hoffman, The Revenger's Tragedy (Penguin Classics)
Page 46
92 apprehensive: quick, intelligent
93 purchase: profit
100 wrong side: i.e. in the back
108 use: prostitution
112 beneficial perjury: lies for a good motive
114 ports: gates
119 worthily: appropriately
120 pen: penis
129 Unbraced: Clothes loosened
134 inward: intimate
146 additions: passages
150 full sea: high tide
151 juggling: sexual behaviour
152 toll-book: record of animals sold at market and, thus, prostituted
154 by water: i.e. by boat
156 proclamation: squeaking hinges giving away the secret
157 a-coining: being coined
160 flow: talk smoothly
169 Piato: Vindice’s alter ego; the word means, according to Florio’s Worlde of Wordes (1598): ‘made flat, razed or level to the ground, hidden, squatted, close, hushed, secret, lurking, cowering down flat’
182 Shadows: Covers
191 warily: secretly
199 cross: thwart
2 twisted: entwined
7 ope: open
12 heaves: groans
14 in heaven: i.e. kill my soul because unconfessed
25 forfend: forbid
26 strumpet: ‘a debauched or unchaste woman’ (OED)
27 ’file: defile
37 SDdissemble a flight: leave stealthily
49 out o’th’ socket: out of joint
68 Puritan: Hypocritical
90 sound: complete
95 face: boldness
96 Honey: Sweet words
98 vildlier: more vilely
107 moon: temporary madness
122 lawn: thin linen
128 suddenly: immediately
147 denial: rejection
148 hot: lecherous
149 green: youthful
7 skin: covering
9 set by: put aside
19 occasion: opportunity
20 packed: finished off
28 set an edge: prepare
2 present: immediate
12 betimes: early
15 hies: comes near
25 black: sinful
4 unmindful: forgetful
7 delivery: release
19 lie in: with a pun on childbirth
63 hate salt water: because of the dangers and unfamiliarity of the sea
69 Duns: Duns Scotus, medieval theologian associated with specious arguments
75 headsman: executioner
78 cozens: tricks
81 Stay: Hold
85 sign: astrological sign
4 ceiling: sky
11 prates: babbles
15 blushless: shameless
17 shape: disguise
27 missed me: left me out
39 stoop: submit
40 be common: be sexually experienced
43 bare: bareheaded
44SD tires: costume
54 surfeiter: indulger
75 lordships: estates
77 falsify highways: obscure, perhaps suggesting highway robbery or impersonating the higher classes
79 refine: make more refined
80 valours: strengths
85 self-affecting: vain
86 Camphor: White, scented substance used as a cosmetic
88 superfluous: excessive
92 forgetful: not conscious of death
102 property: stage prop
110 quaintness: cunning
113 sign: show
116 fleets: leaves
149 white devil: hypocrite
171 slobbering: Q flobbering
177 frowns: disfavour
187 brow: location of the cuckold’s horns
196 quitted: requited
208 quittance: repay
209 wink: close his eyes
209 brooking: bearing
213 Whist: Hush
218 doubtful: uncertain
224 hasped: embraced
233 state: stately
234 head: leader
3 policy: strategy
54 woo: persuade
62 ’Las: Alas
70 savour: smell
113 murrain: plague
9 humour: mood
14 prefer: recommend
15 wittily: wisely
20 will: intentional
25 Fie: Exclamation expressing disgust or reproach
29 rac’d: scratched
40 iron age: fetters
50 apply: spend
64 speed: kill
96 toy: whim
97 light: foolish
98 oracle: truth
2 shifts: roles; plots
5 fallacy: error
10 tongue: speech
14 clad in clay: buried
17 joy: enjoy
21 fetch about: digress
24 tripped: caught out
25 doubtful: careful
40 Beshrew me: The devil take me
43SDlegs: bows
45 don: Vindice’s country accent
55 Anno quadragesimo secundo: forty-second year
56 Anno sextagesimo tertio: sixty-third year
59 pullin: poultry
61 terms: Law Court sessions
64 canvassed: heard before a judge
65 Barbary: barbarous
68 sasarara: legal term for an appeal to the highest court
70 bent: tendency
75 chest: treasury
78 obligations: promissory notes for payment of money
86 published: reputed
107 colours: painting
129 unbrace: reveal
147 quit: requite
147 wrought: worked, persuaded
183 mark: sight
218 vassals: feudal tenants
224 cloven: hoofed, like the devil
237 conveyed: transported; communicated
248 sluggy: sluggish
252 substantial: sound
258 in grain: engrained, firm OSD seemeth: acts
7 iron nipples: daggers
10 quarled: soured
11 Cut: Shorten
41 nimble: quick-witted
43 confuted: silenced; disproved
46 give aim: in archery, to guide one in their aim
57 infectious: infected
66 seld: seldom
68 wax: impressionable, malleable
74 Green-coloured: Virginal
75 hire: prostitution
82 cold blood: calm reflection
90 elf: spirit
103 forehead: countenance, expression
112 usury: associating prostitution with moneylending at interest
130 intellectual: spiritual
144 present: true
158 try: test
167 Be: Q buy glass: example
4 lay: reckoning
9 Michaelmas term: the law term had eight weeks; Vindice seems to imagine eight versions of their situation
10 enow: enough
11 single: alone
13 flesh-flies: bluebottles; flatterers
15 fly-flop: perhaps a fly-swat
19 hugger-mugger: secretly
20 catastrophe: the end of a tragedy
24 paint: use make-up
57 golls: hands
60 nake: unsheathe
65 bear us out: support us
88 raiment: clothes
96 geal’d: congealed
114 prodigious: unlucky
126 cast: rejected
148 post-horse: swift couriers
161 feet … twelves: tongues bigger than their feet
187 firm: secure
10 toward: imminent
15 pattern: copy
19 strain: of music
23 Weightily: Heavily
effectually: effectively
OSD possessing: installation
OSD blazing star: comet
9 incontinent: lascivious
12 subsidies: contributions
/> 23 bushing: spreading like a bush
27 locks: the tail of the comet, like hair
59 SD measure: stately dance
89 Law: Expression of surprise
96 marrow: food for revenge
111 unlikely: unsuited
114 silver age: in Greek mythology, an age of peace
140 conscience: moral qualms
150 witch: predictor of the future
153 clipped: beheaded
158 closed: concealed