To help you better understand Shakespeare’s works we’ve put together the below Shakespeare dictionary, listing Shakespeare’s words, along with a description and example of the word used in context in a Shakespeare play.
In many ways, Shakespeare is the founder of the modern English that we use. It’s generally accepted that he invented or brought into popular usage thousands of words and phrases, and wrote some of litereature’s most memorable lines. However, Shakespeare wrote almost 400 years ago in Early Modern English, and a number of words that were common in his day have since fallen out of usage. The dictionary below lists the words Shakespeare used that are not in common usage today, or may have a different meaning.
[glossary]
If there’s a word you need to understand that’s not listed, please let us know in the comments section at the bottom of the page.
What does the term “flap-dragon” mean?
it means you suck
What does Hurly Burly mean from Mac Beth.
Hi Evie, in this context the three witches are reffering to the battle.
gavest
in sonnet 1 shakespeare uses Niggarding?
,
niggarding is the act of being stingy.
o’erperch
Has the glossary been removed since the initial publication of this article? There are no words listed.
Hey Lily, we’ve been having some technical problems with the glossary I’m afraid. I’ll let you know once it’s up and running again.
I need all the answer to the tempest
Notwithstanding means??
It more or less means “nevertheless” or “regardless”.
Notwithstanding means
_in spite of_ or _nevertheless_
In Much Ado About Nothing, Don Pedro says “with her father I will break”. What does break mean in this sentence
A glossary is key to understanding what he meant.