74 taxation slander
78 troth faith
80.1 Le Beau “the handsome” (French)
82 put force
85 marketable i.e. like pigeons fattened for sale
87 lost missed
88 colour kind
92 laid … trowel expressed excessively/bluntly
93 rank standing as a wit (Rosalind plays on the sense of “foul-smelling” for a joke about farting)
94 losest lose/let loose, release
94 old ripe/stale/customary
95 amaze bewilder
99 do come
103 tale puns on “tail” (as opposed to beginning)
104 proper handsome/fine
106 bills advertisements/legal documents
107 presents legal documents; plays on presence
110 that so that
111 So in the same way
112 dole lamentation
121 any anyone
121 broken discordant/with parts arranged for different instruments (plays on the idea of broken ribs)
126.1 Flourish trumpet fanfare, usually accompanying a person in authority
129 his … forwardness whatever danger results is due to his reckless confidence
132 looks successfully seems likely to succeed
133 cousin term used for any relative beyond the immediate family
135 leave permission
137 odds advantage
137 man i.e. Charles
138 fain gladly
148 come but in merely enter the field
148 try test
153 adventure venture
154 equal evenly matched
157 misprized undervalued/scorned
157 suit request, petition
162 foiled thrown/defeated
163 gracious favored
164 friends relatives/supporters
170 eke out supplement
171 deceived mistaken
174 lie … earth be thrown on the ground/have sex with his mother earth /die and be buried (may anticipate the implied reference to Antaeus, son of Earth who renewed his strength by lying on the ground and whom Hercules defeated in wrestling)
175 will wish/lust/penis
176 working aim/sexual activity
177 fall conclusive throw
178 warrant assure
181 come your ways come on
182 Hercules demigod who wrestled with and defeated the mighty giant Antaeus
182 speed protector
187 down fall
190 breathed exercised/out of breath
199 still always
206 calling name/position in life
211 unto in addition to
212 Ere before
215 envious malicious
216 Sticks pierces
218 justly exactly
218 promise expectation
219 mistress sweetheart
221 suits favor
225 parts qualities/spirits
227 quintain post used as a target when practicing jousting or darts
229 would wants
233 Have with you I’m coming
235 conference conversation
237 Or either
241 condition disposition
243 humorous temperamental
243 indeed in reality
244 conceive understand/imagine
249 taller more elegant/more attractive (some editors assume a reference to height and emend to “smaller” or “shorter,” since Celia is less tall than Rosalind)
255 gentle wellborn/kind
256 argument reason
260 suddenly at any time
262 knowledge acquaintance
263 rest remain
263 bounden indebted
264 from … smother i.e. from bad to worse
264 smother dense, suffocating smoke/smoldering fire
Act 1 Scene 3
1 Cupid god of love
5 curs dogs/worthless fellows
6 reasons remarks/explanations
7 Then there were if I did, then there would be
11 child’s father i.e. one who might become the father of my children (Orlando)
12 briars i.e. obstacles
12 working-day ordinary, everyday
13 burs prickly seed heads that stick easily to clothing
15 petticoats skirts
16 coat petticoat/skirt
18 Hem cough (as if to dislodge something stuck in the throat or to clear the chest; pun on “sew a hem”)
19 ‘hem’ puns on “him”
19 have win, possess (plays on the sense of “have sex with”)
20 wrestle plays on the sense of “grapple sexually”
21 take … of support (part plays on the sense of “penis”)
22 a … you bless you/good luck to you (upon may play on the sense of “mount sexually”)
22 try fight/have sex
23 fall throw in wrestling/bout of sex/moral lapse
23 turning … service to finish with this joking (turning, jests and service all play on the sense of “copulation”)
29 dearly deeply (possible pun on “deer” is generated by chase)
29 chase pursuit/hunt
32 Why … not? i.e. Why should I hate him?
36 your safest haste sufficient haste to ensure your safety
45 intelligence communication
47 frantic mad
48 dear noble
52 purgation acquittal
53 grace salvation, divine grace
56 whereon on what
61 friends relatives
66 stayed kept
67 Else otherwise
67 ranged wandered
69 pleasure will
69 remorse compassion
70 young immature
72 still always
73 an instant the same time
73 eat eaten
74 like Juno’s swans i.e. yoked together to pull the chariot of the Roman queen of the gods
76 subtle crafty
76 smoothness plausibility/friendliness
79 name reputation
82 doom judgment
86 provide prepare
88 greatness authority
90 change exchange
99 sundered separated
103 change i.e. of circumstances
105 at … pale depending on whether pale is an adjective or a noun, either “the sky is pale in shock and grief,” or “our sorrows have reached their utmost limit”
112 mean lowly
113 umber brown pigment (to conceal aristocratically pale complexions)
118 suit … points dress myself in every respect
119 gallant curtle-axe fine cutlass
120 boar-spear weapon used for boar hunting
122 swashing swaggering/dashing
124 outface … semblances brazen it out with appearances
126 Jove in Roman mythology, king of the gods
127 Ganymede a beautiful youth, carried off by Jove to be his cupbearer; the name was also used by Elizabethans to refer to a youth who was the subject of an older man’s homosexual desire
129 state status
130 Aliena from the Latin for “stranger”
131 assayed attempted
133 travel journey/hardship
135 Leave me alone leave it to me
135 woo persuade
139 content contentment
Act 2 Scene 1
2.1 Location: the Forest of Arden Amiens name of a northern French town; may suggest “friendliness” (from the Latin)
2.1 foresters forest dwellers
2 old custom established practice/experience
3 painted pomp artificial show
4 envious malicious
5 penalty of Adam i.e. the harsher seasons and greater toil that followed loss of Eden
6 difference change
6 as such as
7 churlish chiding harsh brawling/rebuking
11 feelingly tangibly/intensely
12 uses benefits
13 toad … head supposedly, venomous toads had precious stones in their heads that were antidotes to poisons
15 exempt … haunt not visited by people
16 tongues speech
18 change alter/exchange
19 translate transform/re-express (one thing in terms of another)
20 style mode of expression/way of life
22 fools poor creatures
23 burghers citizens
23 desert lonely, uninhabited
24 confines territories
24 forkèd heads i.e. barbed arrowheads
28 kind manner
31 along stretched out
32 antique ancient/antic (i.e. grotesquely gnarled)
33 brawls rushes noisily
34 sequestered separated (from his herd)
40 Coursed flowed/chased (plays on the sense of “hunted”)
42 markèd of noticed by
43 extremest verge very edge
46 moralize draw a moral from, interpret
48 needless having no need (for more water)
49 testament will
50 worldlings materially minded mortals
50 sum of more store/additional amount
52 velvet friend deer with smooth coat/richly clothed per son/syphilitic lover
53 part depart from/separate
54 flux continuous stream
54 Anon instantly/soon
54 careless carefree
56 stays stops
57 greasy plump and fit for killing/wealthy
58 wherefore why
60 invectively in violent terms
63 mere absolute
64 up off
67 commenting pondering
70 cope encounter
71 matter ideas/material for discussion
72 straight straight away
Act 2 Scene 2
2.2 Location: the court
2 villains servants/wrongdoers
3 sufferance acquiescence
7 untreasured robbed/emptied of a treasure
8 roynish coarse
9 wont accustomed
13 parts qualities
17 gallant fine fellow/daring young man/ladies’ man (i.e. Orlando)
19 suddenly immediately
20 quail fail
21 again back
Act 2 Scene 3
2.3 Location: Oliver’s household
3 memory reminder
4 make you are you doing
7 fond foolish
8 bonny priser robust prizefighter
8 humorous temperamental
12 more better
13 sanctified sanctimonious, hypocritical
14 comely fair
15 Envenoms poisons
23 your praises people’s praises of you
24 use are accustomed
25 of to do
26 cut you off kill you
27 practices schemes
28 place i.e. safe place
28 butchery slaughterhouse
31 so so long as
33 boist’rous massive/savage
33 enforce gain by force
34 common public
38 diverted blood kinship drawn away from its natural course
40 thrifty hire wages thriftily saved
41 foster-nurse nurse who brings up another’s child as her own
42 service … lame i.e. when I am too weak to work
43 unregarded uncared for, ignored
48 lusty vigorous
51 unbashful forehead shameless audacity
54 Frosty i.e. white-haired
54 kindly pleasant/thriving
58 constant faithful
59 sweat i.e. worked
59 meed reward
62 choke … having i.e. stop working once they have gained their reward/promotion
66 In lieu of in return for
66 husbandry cultivation/domestic management
67 come thy ways come on
69 low content humble contentment
72 fourscore eighty (four times twenty)
75 too … week i.e. far too late
Act 2 Scene 4
2.4 Location: the Forest of Arden; except for one brief scene (Act 3 Scene 1) the remainder of the action takes place in various parts of the forest
2.4 for i.e. disguised as
2.4 alias may indicate a change of costume (see Introduction)
1 Jupiter Roman king of the gods (Jove)
5 weaker vessel i.e. woman
5 doublet and hose man’s close-fitting jacket and breeches
9 cross burden/coin (with cross stamped on it)
14.1 Silvius from Latin for “woods”
16 solemn serious
26 fantasy amorous imaginings/desire
28 heartily sincerely, from the heart
29 folly foolishness/lewdness
33 Wearing wearing out, wearying
35 broke from escaped
38 Phoebe a name for Diana/Artemis, goddess of the moon, chastity, and hunting
39 Searching of probing
39 wound Touchstone will shift the sense to “vagina”
40 adventure fortune
42 sword weapon/penis
42 him the stone /his sword
43 coming visiting/ejaculating
43 a-night at night
44 batler wooden club (for beating wet laundry)
44 dugs teats
44 chopt chapped
45 milked plays on the sense of “caused to ejaculate”
45 peascod pea pod (with genital connotations; a reversal of “codpiece”)
46 cods pods/testicles
47 Wear plays on the sense of “have sex with, exhaust”
48 capers frolicsome leaps/fornications
49 mortal subject to decay (sense then shifts to “only human”)
50 ware aware (puns on wear; Touchstone shifts the sense to “wary”)
51 wit possible play on “penis”
54 upon my fashion like mine
55 something somewhat
55 stale may play on the sense of “prostitute”
56 yond yonder, that
59 clown rustic (Rosalind picks up on the sense of “jester”)
64 even evening (i.e. afternoon)
67 desert deserted
70 succour help
75 shear … graze i.e. make any profit from the sheep I tend
77 recks cares
79 cote cottage
79 bounds of feed range of pasture land
80 sheepcote building sheltering sheep (perhaps here a shepherd’s cottage)
83 in my voice as far as I am concerned
85 swain low-ranking man/rustic
85 but erewhile only a while ago
87 stand is consistent
89 to pay i.e. money
90 mend improve
91 waste spend
95 feeder servant
96 suddenly at once
Act 2 Scene 5
1 greenwood leafy
2 Who anyone who
3 turn adapt, tune
3 note melody
4 throat voice
13 ragged hoarse/harsh
16 stanzo stanza, verse
18 I … nothing Jaques refers to the names on a loan document of those who owe money
22 that that which
22 compliment etiquette
22 th’encounter the meeting/sexual encounter
23 dog-apes dog-faced baboons
24 beggarly i.e. effusive
27 end complete
27 cover the while in the meantime lay the cloth for a meal
29 look look for
31 disputable argumentative
32 matters topics
36 i’th’sun i.e. free from care
40 etc. indicates repeat of “no enemy / But winter and rough weather”
42 in … invention in spite of my poor imagination
48 Ducdame meaning unclear; probably a nonsense word
49 gross great/dull/coarse
50 An if if
52 Greek i.e. gibberish
52 circle magic circle/circle of gaping idiots (i.e. the others, gathered around Amiens)
53 rail rant
53 all … Egypt in punishment for Pharaoh’s ill-treatment of the Jews, God slaughtered all first-born children and animals in Egypt, which resulted in a great lament being raised in the night
55 banquet light meal/course of fruit, sweetmeats, and wine
Act 2 Scene 6
5 comfort take comfort
6 uncouth unknown
7 conceit imagination
8 comfortable cheerful
9 presently immediately/soon
12 said done
12 cheerly cheerful
Act 2 Scene 7
5 compact of jars made up of discords
6 spheres stars and planets were thought to be contained by crystalline spheres, which produced beautiful music as they rotated
13 motley in a professional fool’s multicolored clothing
17 set terms roundly/in an articulate manner
19 Call … fortune “Fortune favors fools” (proverbial)
20 dial watch
20 poke pocket
23 wags goes (may pun on the sense of “moves sexually”)
24 hour may pun on “whore”
24 nine … eleven possibly suggestive of growing erection
26 ripe mature/grow erect/search
27 rot decay/detumesce/become infected with venereal disease (possibly puns on “rut”)
28 tale puns on “tail” (i.e. “penis”)
29 moral moralize
30 chanticleer a cockerel
31 deep contemplative thoughtful/familiar with sexual matters
32 sans without
34 wear thing worth wearing
39 dry according to Elizabethan physiology, one with a dry brain was slow to grasp matters but sure to remember them
39 remainder remaining
40 places nooks and corners/topics
41 vents expresses
45 suit request/outfit
46 weed puns on the sense of “clothing”
47 rank luxuriantly, wild
49 Withal as well
49 charter privilege
51 gallèd vexed, irritated
53 way puns on why
53 church attendance was required by law
54 that … hit who is the target of a fool’s taunts
55 smart feels pain
56 senseless … bob insensible to the jest; the line is a foot short, suggesting that words may have been omitted, so some editors emend (e.g. “Not to seem senseless” or “If he seem senseless”)
57 anatomized dissected
58 squandering glances random jibes
59 Invest clothe
61 Cleanse purge medically
64 counter worthless token used to represent a coin
66 libertine wild, lecherous, dissolute person
67 brutish sting animal urging of lust