Ajax | [pron: 'ayjaks, OP also a'jayks] son of Telemon, king of Salamis (also called Ajax Telemonius); fought against Troy; proverbial for his size and strength |
Ariachne | [pron: ari'aknee] weaver from Lydia, who challenged Athene to a contest; when Ariachne’s work was seen to be superior, Athene destroyed it, and Ariachne hanged herself; Athene saved her, but changed her into a spider; also known as Arachne |
Athene | [pron: a'theena] Greek goddess of wisdom and learning, protector of Athens; also known as Athena, Pallas Athena, or Pallas |
backwardly | unfavourably, in a lowly manner; also: in reverse order of priority |
bacon | porker, fat one; also: rustic |
ball | eyeball; also: cannon-ball |
bemete, be-mete | measure; also: mete out punishment |
bless | wound, hurt, beat; also: consecrate |
bombast, bumbast | wool padding, stuffing; also: high-flown language, empty words |
broil | subject to great heat; also: be engaged in a struggle |
Bull | Taurus, the second sign of the zodiac, associated with cuckoldry, and also the neck and throat |
bumbast | wool padding; also: high-flown language |
bung | pickpocket; also: hole-stopper [penis] |
buzzard | ignoramus, stupid person; also: inferior kind of hawk |
carack | large merchant ship, also fitted out for war |
carrack, carack | galleon, large merchant ship, also fitted out for war |
carry | wear; also: bear the weight of |
chace | [tennis] forfeited point; also: pursuit |
charged | loaded; also: given a burden |
Chartreux | [pron: shah'truh] Carthusian abbey at Chartreuse, E France; also, the name of the order of monks |
chase | [tennis] forfeited point; also: pursuit |
cheater | deceiver, sharper, gamester; also: officer who looks after estates forfeited to the crown |
clown | yokel, rustic, country bumpkin; also: low comic character [in a play] |
coals, carry | submit to insult, show cowardice; also: do degrading work |
codpiece | cloth case or pocket worn by a man at the front of breeches or hose; also: what it contains |
copy | [legal] type of tenure, copyhold; also: process of replication |
courtship | court life, courtliness; also: wooing, courting |
craft | carry out a craft; also: act craftily |
cross | crossness; also: sign of the cross |
dildo | nonsense refrain in a ballad; also: artificial penis |
dissolved | destroyed, ruined; also: annulled |
durance | durability, lasting nature; also: type of strong durable cloth |
eke | [archaism] also, moreover, too |
exhaled | dragged from a proper course; also: drawn up as a vapour |
fichew | polecat, skunk; also: prostitute |
fitchew | polecat, skunk; also: prostitute |
flag | reed, rush; also: variety of iris |
grow | take liberties with, trouble; also: grow up [too fast] |
half-faced | [of a coin] showing a monarch's profile; also: clipped, imperfect |
heart | in poor condition, lacking in strength; also: lacking inclination |
holy | of holiness; also: full of holes |
joint-stool | well-made stool [by a joiner] [also used in phrases of ridicule] |
kite | bird of prey; thieving bird [of ill omen; also, strong term of abuse] |
lamely | imperfectly, defectively; also, haltingly, in a lame manner |
lattice | lattice-work, criss-cross adornment; also: tavern symbol |
liberty | plays not written according to traditional rules of drama; also: district not subject to a sheriff's legal order [i.e. more suitable for theatres] |
like | equally, similarly, also |
medlar | apple-like fruit eaten when its flesh has begun to decay [also: pun on ‘meddler’] |
Mercury | messenger of the Roman gods; also, god of commerce |
Muse | one of the nine goddesses in Greek mythology, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who gave artistic inspiration; also called the Helicons, as they lived on Mt Helicon |
ouch | ornament, gem; also: sore |
partition | wall, dividing structure; also: section of a learned book |
penetrate | pierce the feelings, touch the heart [also: sexual innuendo] |
Phoebus | [pron: 'feebus] Latin name for Apollo as the sun-god; also called Phoebus Apollo |
pissing while, a | a very short time; also: with enough time to urinate |
Plantagenet | [pron: plan'tajinit] name of an English royal dynasty, which ruled from the accession of Henry II (1154) to the death of Richard III (1485); from Latin planta genista 'sprig of bloom', worn as a crest by Geoffrey, Count of Anjou, the father of Henry II, from whom the house is also called the Anjou or Angevin dynasty |
play | play guns on, aim at; also: torment |
plighted | folded, hidden; also: solemnly pledged |
Plutus | [pron: 'plootus] Greek god of wealth and gold; also called Pluto |
pox | venereal disease; also: plague, or any other disease displaying skin pustules |
pucelle | maid, virgin, girl; also: drab, trollop, slut |
pussel | maid, virgin, girl; also: drab, trollop, slut |
puzzel | maid, virgin, girl; also: drab, trollop, slut |
recover | get back; also: cover again |
Rialto | [pron: ree'altoh] commercial exchange in Venice, NE Italy; also, bridge spanning the Grand Canal |
royal | kingly; also: to the value of the English coin worth half a pound |
ruffling | frilled, lace-adorned; also: embellishing, gay |
scoring | charging to an account; also: cutting, wounding |
sequestration | imprisonment, isolation; also: loss of property |
shadowed | shaded, darkened; also [heraldry]: faintly drawn |
shot-free | scot-free, without paying the bill; also: unwounded, unpunished |
slip | counterfeit coin; also: evasion |
snaky | twisting, winding, sinuous; also: deceitful |
snuff | in need of snuffing out; also: in a rage |
st | 2nd person singular ending; also: short form of some auxiliary verbs such as 'must', 'shallst' |
state | [also: cloth of state] canopy over a chair of state |
Strand | London street of fashionable merchants; also, of apprentices |
take | study, learn; also: draw forth |
Tarquin | Tarquinius Superbus, seventh king of Rome, 6th-c BC; also his son, Sextus Tarquinius, the ravisher of Lucrece |
Tartar | someone from Tartary, C Asia; known for pitilessness; also, a stereotype of dark complexion |
thrifty | worthy, estimable; also: stingy, frugal |
tidy | good-looking, handsome; also: fat, plump |
Troy | ancient city of W Turkey, besieged for 10 years during the Trojan Wars; also called Ilium, Ilion |
uncoined | unalloyed, genuine; also: not yet in circulation [among women] |
undermine | dig underneath; also: overthrow |
underminer | sapper; also: overthrower |
unkindly | cruelly, harshly; also: unnaturally |
unmanned | [falconry] untrained; also: without a husband |
unsettled | disturbed, troubled; also: unresolved, unfixed |
waterish | abounding in water; also: wishy-washy, watered down |
wildfire | flaming gunpowder; also: will o' the wisp; type of eruptive disease |
wittolly | cuckoldy; also: half-witted |
wrangler | quarreller, arguer; also: opponent, disputant |
writ | plays written according to traditional rules of drama; also: a district of the city subject to a sheriff's legal order [i.e. less suitable for theatres] |