96 lifting up rising, breaking
105 packet i.e. of letters, dispatch
109 stomach appetite
121 straight straightaway
122 pangs attacks, spasms of pain
126 fear me fill me with fear
127 Unfathered heirs children supposed to be unnatural, conceived supernaturally loathly births deformed infants, regarded as ill omens
128 change their manners alter their usual patterns as as if
130 flowed flooded
131 doting weak-minded/foolish/fond, attentive
133 Edward Edward III sicked sickened
135 apoplexy illness causing paralysis
139 dull gentle favourable kindly
146 heaviness sadness
147 Rain i.e. tears abroad outside
153 physic medicine
161 perturbation cause of trouble care source of anxiety
162 ports doors, gates (i.e. eyelids)
163 watchful wakeful
165 homely biggen plain nightcap
166 watch portion of the night/watchful vigil
168 armour…safety metal armor which gets hot and burns the wearer at the same time it protects him from attack
169 gates of breath i.e. mouth and nose
171 suspire breathe out
174 rigol circle (i.e. crown)
180 immediate direct successor
181 Derives itself descends
182 put…strength even if all the strength in the world were concentrated
184 lineal inherited
185 mine i.e. my heir
200 Chide drive with rebukes
201 part action conjoins unites
203 falls into revolt betrays itself, is unnatural
208 engrossed amassed
209 cankered tarnished/corrupt strange-achievèd ill-gotten/brought from overseas
210 thoughtful careful invest endow (plays on financial sense)
211 arts scholarship
214 thighs…wax beeswax is stored in sacs on the upper parts of bees’ legs
215 bees…pains in fact it is not workers, but drones (bees whose sole purpose is to impregnate the queen) who die after mating or are cast out of the hive to die
216 This…engrossments these accumulations give a bitter taste
217 ending dying
218 stay wait
219 determined terminated
221 kindly filial/gentle gentle noble/tender
223 tyranny cruelty but anything butg
232 chair position/throne
236 cloud of dignity rank or honor, insubstantial as a cloud
240 Were would have been
241 sealed…expectation confirmed my fears
242 manifest demonstrate
245 whetted sharpened
247 forbear endure, permit
252 balm consecrated oil used in the coronation of the monarch sanctify consecrate, render holy
253 compound mix
256 form established order, custom
260 apes of idleness fools prone to all unworthy vices
261 confines states, countries
266 gild cover with gold (puns on guilt)
267 office official position
270 flesh his tooth sink his tooth into the flesh
272 care anxiety, concerned efforts (sense then shifts to “chief concern”)
278 had would have dear heartfelt
282 affect desire
284 obedience i.e. kneeling posture
288 course current
292 have purposèd intend
295 as having sense as though it were alive
296 on thee depending attached to you
299 fine in carat pure
300 med’cine potable i.e. aurum potabile, a liquid medicine supposed to contain gold
301 fine refined, pure
304 try dispute, engage in
310 affection tendency to
311 Give entertainment to receive, be hospitable to might power
313 vassal subject
317 join the more be further united to
320 latest last, final
322 by-paths obscure, indirect paths
323 met came by
327 soil grounds, foundation/stain, dishonor
329 boist’rous unruly, violent
330 many i.e. of the men who claimed to have assisted him
333 fears sources of fear
337 purchased bought, acquired not inherited
338 fairer sort just manner/favorable lot
339 garland i.e. crown successively by right of succession
341 griefs are green grievances remain fresh, unhealed
342 make work to maintain as
344 fell working fierce efforts
345 lodge harbor
350 near closely state kingship
351 giddy foolish, restless
352 action war hence borne out undertaken abroad
353 waste dispel
354 I I say wasted worn out
361 common pain ordinary effort
367 trunk body/tree trunk
368 a period an end
372 lodging room swoon faint
374 Laud praise
375 years i.e. years ago
376 but except
377 vainly foolishly/conceitedly
Davy one of Shallow’s servants
1 By…pie a mild oath cock form of “God” pie Roman Catholic service book
11 precepts writs, summons
12 headland strip of unplowed land in a field; used for turning the plow it was sown later than the rest of the field
13 red wheat a dark-colored late variety
15 smith’s note blacksmith’s bill
16 plough-irons any iron parts of a plow
17 cast calculated (plays on the sense of “form metal into shape”)
19 link…bucket rope or chain, most likely for the pail drawing water up from a well
21 Hinckley Fair well-known cattle fair held every August at Hinckley, a market town on the Warwickshire/Leicestershire border
22 answer repay
24 kickshaws fancy dishes
25 man of war soldier/large warship (i.e. Falstaf)
26 use treat A…purse i.e. it’s useful to have friends in high places
28 arrant knaves absolute rogues backbite tell tales, slander
29 bitten…linen i.e. clothes full of lice
31 Well conceited very witty
32 countenance favor
41 bear out support
42 credit trust/reputation
45 Look about watch out/get busy
51 tall valiant, or perhaps ironically addressed to the Page
54 quantities little bits
55 staves i.e. long and thin
56 semblable coherence close correspondence
58 conversing associating
59 married in conjunction intimately connected
61 suit to lawsuit for/favor to beg
63 imputation…near suggestion that I am friendly with
64 curry curry favor, flatter
70 terms sessions of the law courts (four in a year) actions lawsuits
71 intervallums intervals between terms
72 sad brow straight face never…shoulders i.e. was young and carefree
74 ill laid up badly folded, i.e. creased up
8 service…injuries presumably the Lord Chief Justice is recalling the time he had Prince Henry arrested and is worried about repercussions now that Hal is king truly faithfully
1 whither away where are you going
14 fantasy imagination
15 heavy issue sorrowful offspring
16 temper disposition
18 hold their places retain their positions
19 strike sail lower their sails, i.e. submit vile base
24 argument subject for discussion
29 borrow not do not put on
30 sure certainly
31 grace favor
(from Hal)
32 coldest expectation the least favorable situation.
35 your…quality the current of your nature and position
39 ragged wretched forestalled remission pardon so certain to be refused it is not worth asking
40 troth good faith, honesty
49 Amurah a Turkish sultan who, upon gaining the throne, had all his brothers killed; his successor did the same thing
62 number…happiness i.e. for each tear there shall be an hour of happiness
64 strangely in a distant, unfamiliar manner
65 assured convinced
69 hopes expectations
71 Rate berate
72 easy insignificant/lenient
73 Lethe in Greek mythology, the river in the underworld; immersion in its waters induced forgetfulness
74 use the person represent
80 presented represented
84 commit imprison
85 Be you would you be garland crown
90 spurn strike/disdain
91 second body deputy, substitute
92 make…yours put yourself in that situation
93 propose imagine
94 profaned abused, treated with contempt
95 dreadful formidable, awe-inspiring loosely carelessly, casually
98 soft gently
99 cold considerance calm consideration
100 state role as king
101 misbecame was not appropriate to
103 weigh consider, reason
104 still…sword i.e. retain your position; balance (scales) and sword are the emblems of justice
110 proper own
114 commit sense shifts from “imprison” to “entrust”
115 used been accustomed
116 remembrance reminder
120 sound speak out
121 intents intentions
122 well-practised experienced
125 affections wild inclinations, self-indulgent behavior
126 sadly solemnly, seriously
127 mock defy
128 raze out erase, obliterate
129 Rotten opinion poor, corrupt reputation
130 After my seeming in accordance with the way I appeared to be
131 vanity worthlessness, folly
133 state of floods majesty of the sea
136 limbs…counsel i.e. advisers
142 accite summon
143 remembered mentioned (pronounced remembred
144 consigning to approving, setting its seal to
1 orchard garden
2 pippin variety of apple graffingx grafting, cultivation
3 caraways sweets or cakes made with caraway seeds
5 rich fertile/well-off one
7 Spread lay the cloth for eating
8 said done
10 husband steward
11 varlet servant/rogue
14 quoth a said he
17 flesh meat/whores dear beloved/expensive
18 lusty lively/lustful
21 health toast
24 Proface! a toast or welcoming cry: “May it do you good!” (from old French or Italian)
25 want in meat lack in flesh, i.e. size bear put up with it
26 all i.e. the most important thing
30 shrews nags and scolds
31 in…all at dinner when men’s beards move up and down in lively conversation
32 Shrovetide the three feast days before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent
35 mettle character/liveliness
36 twice and once comic inversion of “once or twice
37 leather-coats russet apples which have tough skins
41 brisk dry/sparkling
42 leman sweetheart
48 let it come pass it round
49 pledge toast a…bottom the whole cup, even if it were a mile deep
51 beshrew a curse on
53 cavalieros fashionable young men
56 crack a quart empty a quart pot, i.e. two pints of ale
58 pottle-pot tankard containing two quarts (four pints), twice what Shallow proposed
59 stick by thee keep up with you (in drinking)
60 out drop out
64 done me right i.e. by matching me in drinking
65 Do…Samingo popular drinking song
67 Samingo Sir Mingo (mingo is Latin for “I urinate”)
69 somewhat something
77 greatest most influential (Silence takes the sense of “fattest”)
78 but except for Goodman title for those below the rank of gentleman Puff name suggestive of swelling (Pistol shifts the sense to “brag, boast”)
79 recreant cowardly
83 price great value
84 man…world an ordinary mortal, i.e. in plain language
85 A foutre i.e. “I don’t give a fuck” (from the French)
87 Assyrian native of Assyria, ancient Middle Eastern country renowned in the Bible for robbery and pillage, later associated with luxury
88 King Cophetua African king who fell in love with a beggar girl; a popular topic for ballads
89 Robin…John fragment from the ballad Robin Hood and the Pinder of Wakefield
90 curs dogs
Helicons i.e. the Muses who lived on Mount Helicon in Greece— hence “true poets”
91 baffled frustrated/treated with contempt
92 lay…lap appeal to the Furies, mythological goddesses of revenge
93 breeding social status
99 Besonian beggar, knave (from Italian besogno)
106 do…me make the indecent gesture known as the “fig of Spain,” which consisted of thrusting the thumb between the index and middle fingers
109 just true
110 Away let’s go
112 double-charge…dignities load you, like a firearm, twice over with honors
113 take exchange
116 Carry…bed presumably Silence has passed out from too much drink
120 withal moreover
121 Boot get your boots on
122 sick i.e. longing, pining for (unconscious play on sense of “sick of”)
126 vultures…also refers to the punishment inflicted on Prometheus by the Greek gods; for stealing fire from heaven, he had his liver pecked out by vultures each day (it regrew at night)
127 ‘Where…led?’ line from a lost poem or ballad
Beadles parish officers with the power to punish petty offenders, perhaps synonymous with Fang and Snare
2 that so that hanged i.e. as her murderer
4 over up (for punishment)
5 whipping-cheer feast of whipping, a common punishment for whores
6 killed about her murdered on her account; may play on “brought to orgasm” in her company
7 Nut-hook beadle or constable; literally a long pole with a hook at the end for gathering nuts
8 tripe-visaged with a face like tripe (i.e. sallow, pockmarked).
9 go am pregnant thou…struck you’d have been better off if you’d struck
10 paper-faced i.e. thin, pale
12 bloody…somebody he’d fight and make somebody pay for this
12 I…miscarry either she hopes Doll will miscarry and the Beadle be punished or she’s confused and means the opposite
14 cushions implying that Doll is feigning pregnancy by stuffing a cushion under her gown
15 but only
17 man in a censer vessels in which incense was burned were embossed with figures
18 swinged thrashed blue-bottled beadles wore dark-blue uniforms
19 correctioner one who administers punishment; or more specifically, officer at the Bridewell House of Correction for prostitutes
20 forswear half-kirtles give up wearing skirts; a kirtle consisted of a bodice and a skirt
21 she knight-errant female knight/prostitute (who commits her misdeeds, or errs by night)
22 right…might inversion of the proverb “might overcomes ri
ght”
23 sufferance…ease undergoing suffering/patient forbearance produces relief/comfort
26 Goodman…bones insults referring to the Beadle’s thinness!
27 anatomy skeleton
28 thing perhaps with phallic connotations rascal rogue/underweight young deer
Grooms man servants
1 rushes with which Elizabethan floors were commonly strewn
6 leer upon look sideways at, catch his eye
7 countenance look/patronage
10 liveries servants’ uniforms bestowed laid out, used
12 infer imply, demonstrate
20 shift me change my shirt
27 semper idem “ever the same” (Latin)
obsque…est “apart from this there is nothing” (Latin; obsque is a mistake for absque)
’Tis…part Pistol’s rough translation of the Latin
30 liver regarded as the seat of the passions
32 Helen i.e. Helen of Troy, supposedly the most beautiful woman in the world
33 durance imprisonment
34 Haled hauled, dragged
35 mechanical vulgar, common
36 ebon ebony, black fell fierce den with fell
37 Alecto one of the Furies, described by Virgil as being crowned with snakes
38 in in prison; possibly plays on “pregnant” (hence Falstaff’s “deliver”)
42 imp scion or offspring of a noble house
44 vain foolish, worthless
46 Jove supreme Roman god
50 surfeit-swelled swollen from overindulgence
52 hence henceforth
53 gormandizing excessive eating
62 riots debauched behavior, revelry, disorderly deeds
65 our Hal uses the royal plural pronoun
66 competence of life a sufficient allowance
67 That…evil so that poverty will not make you turn to crime
70 advancement promotion, favor charge responsibility, orders
71 tenor substance
80 doublet close-fitting jacket
83 colour pretense (of Henry’s)
84 colour puns on “collar” (hangman’s noose), die puns on “dye”
85 colours enemy flags
86 soon at night this very evening/early in the evening
88 Fleet prison in the City of London.
93 Si…contento “If fortune torments me, hope contents me” (Italian; the same motto Pistol uttered in Act 2 Scene 4, with the Italian differently garbled)
94 fair proceeding kindly/just course of action
95 hath intent intends wonted customary
97 conversations behavior
103 civil swords used in civil wars
107 curtsy bow
your addressed to the audience
111 doubt fear marring ruin
112 venture attempt/risk
115 ill venture unsuccessful commercial voyage
116 break break my promise/am bankrupt