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Full Glossary
adoption tried friendship that has stood the test of time.
aery nest.
aim to guess or conjecture.
angle fishing line.
an't if it.
antique Roman The ancient Roman was ever ready to commit suicide when confronted with calamity.
apoplex'd paralyzed.
argal therefore.
arms a coat of arms, being a group of emblems and figures arranged on and around a shield and serving as the special insignia of a person, family, or institution.
arras a tapestry wall hanging.
assay of arms try to raise.
assays of bias This is a metaphor from the game of lawn bowling; the weight in the ball, which causes it to follow a curved line, is called the bias. Hence the meaning of the phrase is "indirect attempts."
assigns appurtenances.
assurance a pun on conveyance of property by deed and security.
batten to grow fat; thrive; to be well fed or wealthy at another's expense.
Be as ourself in Denmark Claudius is extending to Hamlet all the special privileges and prerogatives belonging to a crowned prince.
be idle seem crazy.
beetles o'er overhangs.
bend you incline yourself.
berattle abuse.
beteem permit.
bilboes long iron bars with sliding shackles, for fettering prisoners' feet.
bisson rheum blinding tears.
blank the center spot of a target; bull's-eye.
blench to shrink back, as in fear; flinch.
blood and judgment passion and reason.
bodkin a dagger or stiletto.
botch a badly patched place or part
bourn limit; boundary.
brainish apprehension mad notion (that he heard a rat).
bray out celebrate.
breathing time time of exercise.
broad blown in full blossom.
brokers people who act as agents or intermediaries in negotiating contracts, buying and selling, and so forth.
bruit proclaim.
bugs terrors, nightmares.
bung-hole a hole in a barrel or keg through which liquid can be poured in or drawn out.
the burning zone the sun.
buttons buds.
Buz, buz a slang expression for "tell me something I don't know."
buzzers gossipers.
Cain's jaw-bone the jawbone of an ass, with which Cain is supposed to have killed Abel.
candied sugared with hypocrisy.
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