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<H1>PREFACE</H1>
<p>The steady advance towards completion of the great Oxford
English Dictionary has made it possible for the Delegates of
the Clarendon Press to authorize the preparation and issue
of this book, which is primarily the outcome of an analysis
of Shakespeare's vocabulary conducted in the light of the
results published in the Dictionary. The application of these
results to the making of a glossary to a single author, if it is to
have an independent value and to be true to the facts, must not
be a mere mechanical transference of definitions and classifications
of meanings such as an industrious compiler might make
with small expenditure of time and labour. Such a work as is
here attempted is one of diificulty and delicacy, and there are
pitfalls even for the expert ; but, relying upon a fifteen years'
experience on the editorial staff of the Dictionary, I have
allowed myself a wide freedom of adaptation, and trust at the
same time to have escaped such errors as would be almost
inevitable if a task of this kind were undertaken by one who
knew the great book only from the outside and had no adequate
training in lexicographical method.</p>

<p>The aim of the Shakespeare glossary now presented to the
reader is to supply definitions and illustrations of words or
senses of words now obsolete or surviving only in provincial
or archaic use, together with explanations of others involving
allusions not generally familiar, and of proper names carrying
with them some connotative signification or offering special
interest or difficulty in the passages in which they occur.
Senses still current in general literature have also been occasionally
illustrated, chiefly where there is contextual obscurity,
or where it seemed desirable, for one reason or another, to give
a complete conspectus of a word that has many ramifications of
meaning. Words of this last class have received very diverse
treatment according to the circumstances of their usage ; but
a feature common to the greater number of them is the introduction
of the scheme of meanings by a statement indicating 
how far Shakespeare's uses are those of his contemporaries or
are peculiar to him, what senses are first exemplified &mdash;as far as
present evidence shows&mdash;in his works or in those of Elizabethan
writers generally, what is the relative frequency of the various
senses, or supplying information of a more general character as
to their status or origin. The elucidation of idiom, the definition
of colloquial phrases, and the detailed illustration of specialized
uses of pronouns and of the so-called particles, are points on which
I have bestowed much care. I have throughout recorded any
important readings and spellings of the original folio and quarto
editions, as well as conjectural emendations, even when these
are certainly wrong, as is the case with Pope's widely accepted
<i>marish</i>. It is hoped that this information as to variant readings
will enable the student to take his first steps in textual
criticism, and will give him an insight into the problems that
have to be solved in establishing the text. I have also made it
a part of my plan to bring together evidence to show the relation
of the poet's vocabulary to that of the dialects of the midland
area, and in particular the dialect of his own county, Warwickshire.
Interesting, and here and there entirely fresh, information
on this head will be found under the words <i>ballow, Basimecu,
batlet, blood-bolter'd, bum-baily, chop, door, elder-gun, father, gallow,
geck, grow to</i> (p. 256), <i>honey-stalks, line</i> sb.1, <i>mobled, muss, pash,
potch, sheep, sight, soiled, tarre, vails, wheel</i>. Among articles in
which non-midland dialects have been drawn upon to illustrate
the status or interpretation of a word may be mentioned
<i>dispurse, handsaw, overscutched, side</i> vb. In one noteworthy
instance&mdash;that of <i>minnick</i> or <i>minnock</i>&mdash;a collation of dialect
evidence has led to the tentative restoration of a word which
has been almost universally excluded from the text since the
time of Johnson, who regarded it as a genuine word and the
right reading. Another special feature of this glossary is that
it includes obsolete or technical terms that occur only in stage
directions, for example <i>sennet</i>. The common view has been
that these form no part of what Shakespeare wrote, but their
appearance in the oldest editions of the plays seemed to me
sufficient ground for treating them here.</p>

<p>One who enters at this time of day upon so well worked
a field of investigation as the language of Shakespeare can hope
to do little more in the direction of novelty or originality than
present a comparatively few points with a greater degree of
clearness or certainty than has been achieved by his many predecessors.
The following articles in the present book may,
however, be referred to as recording words or facts about words
that have been either ignored or imperfectly explained by many
previous glossarists :&mdash;<i>a-life, enew</i> (a palmary emendation of
Keightley's), <i>great-belly</i> and <i>thin-belly doublet, minnick</i> (referred to
above), <i>relish</i> (=to warble), <i>salt rheum</i>, the verb <i>sol-fa, washing</i>
(= swashing). A long list might be given of words concerning
which I have been able to supply information not usually
accessible in books of this kind, or to bring forward suggestions
to some extent new, bearing upon a textual question or an
interpretation ; the following are selected as typical :&mdash;<i>accommodation,
alarm alarum, Arthur's show, bloat</i>, the two participial
adjectives <i>compact</i>, the two adjectives <i>dear, dismal, foregone
conclusion, greenfields</i> (see FIELD), <i>holy-ale, hue, humour, inn, Lethe,
metal mettle, nonce, ordinate, Provincial rose, Roman hand</i>, the
adjective <i>royal, Salique, scrowl, spright sprite, steppe, three-man-song-men,
tidy, token, tract</i>, the verb <i>trash, travail travel, unbraided,
vale, weird sisters, whinid'st, wilful-blanie, worldly, wot</i>.</p>

<p>This glossary contains considerably more matter than any
other select glossary of similar scope, and it is expected that
many who glance over its pages will express the opinion that
it takes in more than is necessary for the guidance of a reader
of average literary knowledge ; but a careful examination
made with a view to ascertaining what proportion of the
vocabulary here dealt with can be truly described as present-day
English will prove such a criticism to be ill-founded. And here
it may not be out of place to suggest a method of study to the
serious student to whom an accurate and even minute knowledge
of the meaning of the poet's words is no bar to the enjoyment
of his poetry. He will do well from time to time to
examine the articles in the glossary, especially the longer ones
and those concerned with words of Latin origin, apart from the 
reading of any Shakespearian text ; he will in this way discover
how much he is in danger of missing or misunderstanding, and
will gradually acquire that attitude of alertness which is essential
to the appreciation of the richness and subtlety of Elizabethan
English.</p>

<p>To make a selection of words and meanings that should
satisfy all, and to carry out their illustration in a perfectly
consistent manner, would be alike imjjossible, even with an
expenditure of double the time that has been given to the
present book, the compilation of which has occupied the full
working days of a year and a half. It is hoped, however, that
the oversights and inconsistencies inevitable in a book which,
although of slender dimensions, comprises close upon ten
thousand separate articles, will not prove to be so numerous or
so serious as to impair its general accuracy and usefulness.</p>

<H1>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS</H1>
<p>Of the lexical works devoted to Shakespeare I am chiefly
indebted to Schmidt's Shakespeare-Lexicon and Bartlett's Concordance.
For textual matters the Cambridge Shakespeare has
of course been indispensable. The commentaries from which
I have derived the greatest help are those of the Clarendon
Press series of select plays, edited by W. Aldis Wright and
W. G. Clark, and those of the Arden Shakespeare, of which the
volumes by the late H. C. Hart must be specially mentioned for
the wealth of illustrative quotation which is distributed among
the notes. In investigating technical terms I have had
recourse as far as possible to treatises of the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries; but I have frequently turned with
advantage to Rushton's <i>Shakespeare a Lawyer</i>, and <i>Shakespeare
and Music</i> by Dr. E. W. Naylor, who has kindly allowed me to
consult him on some musical difficulties.</p>

<p>In the preparation of material and the verification of references
I have been assisted throughout by Mr. J. W. Birt, of the
staff of the Oxford English Dictionary.</p>

<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;C. T. O.</p> 

<p>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<i>May</i>, 1910.</p> 

<H1>��1. SHAKESPEARIAN EDITORS, COMMENTATORS, AND CRITICS.</H1>
<p><dfn>Campbell</dfn> (Thomas) 1777-1844 ; ed. 1838.</p>
<p><dfn>Capell</dfn> (Edward) 1713-81 ; ed. 1768.</p>
<p><dfn>Chalmers</dfn> (Alexander) 1759-1834; ed. 1805.</p>
<p><dfn>Clark</dfn> (W. G.), Glover (J.), and Wright (W. A.) ; ed. 1863-6 [theCambridge Shakespeare], reissued 1891-3.</p>
<p><dfn>Clark</dfn> (W. G. and Wright (W. A.); ed. 1866 [the Globe edition] ; 1868, &c. [select plays, Clarendon Press series].</p>
<p><dfn>Clarke</dfn> (Charles and Mary Cowden); ed. 1860, 1864.</p>
<p><dfn>Collier</dfn> (John Payne) 1789-1883 ; ed. 1844.</p>
<p><dfn>Craig</dfn> (William James) died 1906 ; ed. 1892 [the Oxford Shakespeare].</p>
<p><dfn>Delius</dfn> (Nicolaus) ; ed. 1854 ; 1877 [the Leopold Shakespeare].</p>
<p><dfn>Dowden</dfn> (Edward) living ; ed. plays in the Arden Shakespeare; poems 1903.</p>
<p><dfn>Dyce</dfn> (Alexander) 1798-1869; ed. 1857.</p>
<p><dfn>Farmer</dfn> (Richard) 1735-97.</p>
<p><dfn>Furness</dfn> (Horace Howard) sen. and jun.; ed. 1871, &c.</p>
<p><dfn>Halliwell</dfn> (James Orchard) 1820-89; ed. 1851-3.</p>
<p><dfn>Hanmer</dfn> (Sir Thomas) 1677-1746; ed. 1743-4.</p>
<p><dfn>Harness</dfn> (William) 1790-1869; ed. 1825.</p>
<p><dfn>Hart</dfn> (H. Chichester) died 1908 ; ed. plays in the Arden Shakespeare.</p>
<p><dfn>Heath</dfn> (Benjamin) 1704-66.</p>
<p><dfn>Hudson</dfn> (Henry Norman) 1814-86; ed. 1851-6.</p>

<p><dfn>Johnson</dfn> (Samuel) 1691-1773 ; ed.1765.</p>
<p><dfn>Keightley</dfn> (Thomas) 1789-1872; ed. 1865.</p>
<p><dfn>Knight</dfn> (Charles) 1791-1873; ed. 1839-42, 1867.</p>
<p><dfn>Malone</dfn> (Edmund) 1741-1812; ed. 1790 ; edited by James Boswell the younger 1821 [the third variorum edition],</p>
<p><dfn>Nares</dfn> (Robert) 1753-1829.</p>
<p><dfn>Pope</dfn> (Alexander) 1688-1744 ; ed. 1725.</p>
<p><dfn>Reed</dfn> (Isaac) 1742-1807 ; ed. 1785 ; 1803 [the first variorum edition] ; 1813 with notes by Malone [the second variorum].</p>
<p><dfn>Rolfe</dfn> (William James) ; ed. 1871-96 [the Friendly edition].</p>
<p><dfn>Rowe</dfn> (Nicholas) 1674-1718 ; ed. 1709.</p>
<p><dfn>Schmidt</dfn> (Alexander) 1816-87 ; Shakespeare-Lexicon 1874-5, 1886; 1902.</p>
<p><dfn>Singer</dfn> (Samuel Weller) 1783-1858; ed. 1826.</p>
<p><dfn>Spedding</dfn> (James) 1808-81.</p>
<p><dfn>Staunton</dfn> (Howard) 1810-74 ; 1858-60.</p>
<p><dfn>Steevens</dfn> (George) 1736-1800 ; with Johnson 1773.</p>
<p><dfn>Theobald</dfn> (Lewis) 1688-1744; 1733.</p>
<p><dfn>Walker</dfn> (AVilliam Sidney) 1795-1846.</p>
<p><dfn>Warburton</dfn> (William) 1698-1779; ed. 1747.</p>
<p><dfn>White</dfn> (Richard Grant) 1821-85 ; ed. 1857-9, 1883.</p>
<p><dfn>Wright</dfn> (W. Aldis) : see Clark.</p>
<p><dfn>Wyndham</dfn> (George) living; ed. poems 1898.</p>

<H1>��2. AUTHORS AND WORKS CITED.</H1>
<p><dfn>Ascham</dfn> (Roger) 1515-68; Toxophilus [treatise on archery] 1545.</p>
<p><dfn>Bacon</dfn> (Sir Francis) 1561-1626.</p>
<p><dfn>Bailey</dfn> (Nathaniel) died 1742 ; An Universal Etymological English Dictionary 1721, &c.</p>

<p><dfn>Baret</dfn> (John) died 1580 (?) ; An Alvearie or triple Dictionarie, in Englishe, Latin, and French 1573 ; An Alvearie or quadruple dictionarie, containing foure sundrie tongues, English, Latine, Greeke, and French 1580.</p>

<p><dfn>Blount</dfn> (Thomas) 1618-79 ; Glossographia; or a Dictionary interpreting all such hard words, of whatsoever language, now used in our refined English tongue 1656, 1661, 1674, &c.; ��������-��������������; a Law-Dictionary 1670, 1691.</p>
<p><dfn>Blundeville</dfn> (Thomas) ; The Art of Riding [with] The Order of Curing Horses diseases 1580.</p>
<p><dfn>Borde</dfn> (Andrew) died 1549 ; A compendyous Regyment or Dyetary of Helth 1542.</p>
<p><dfn>Botoner</dfn> or Worcester (William) 1415-82 (?); Itinerarium.</p>
<p><dfn>Bourne</dfn> (William) died 1583 ; A Regiment for the Sea : conteyning most profitable rules ... of navigation 1574.</p>
<p><dfn>Breton</dfn> (Nicholas) 1545 (?)-1626(?).</p>
<p><dfn>Browne</dfn> (Sir Thomas) 1605-82.</p>
<p><dfn>Caxton</dfn> (William) died 1491.</p>
<p><dfn>Chapman</dfn> (George) 1559 (?)-1634.</p>
<p><dfn>Chaucer</dfn> (Geoffrey) died 1400.</p>
<p><dfn>Coke</dfn> (Sir Edward) 1552-1634 ; The First Part of the Institvtes of the Lawes of England 1628.</p>
<p><dfn>Constitutions</dfn> and Canons Ecclesiasticall 1604.</p>
<p><dfn>Copley</dfn> (Anthony) 1567-1607 (?) ; A Fig for Fortune 1596.</p>
<p><dfn>Cotorave</dfn> (Handle) died 1634 (?); A Dictionarie of the French and English Tongues 1611 [cited as <dfn>Cotgr</dfn>.]; (another edition) Whereunto is also annexed, a dictionarie of the English set before the French by S[herwood] 1632 [cited as <dfn>Sherwood</dfn>].</p>
<p><dfn>Coverdale</dfn> (Miles) translator of the Bible 1488-1568.</p>
<p><dfn>Cowell</dfn> (John) 1554-1611 ; The Interpreter ; or Booke containing the signification of Words . . . mentioned in the Lawe-writers or Statutes 1607.</p>
<p><dfn>Cudworth</dfn> (Ralph) 1617-88.</p>
<p><dfn>Daniel</dfn> (Samuel) 1562-1619.</p>
<p><dfn>Day</dfn> (John) ; The Ile of Gvls 1606.</p>
<p><dfn>Dictionary</dfn> (A New) of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew. By B. E. Gent, about 1700.</p>
<p><dfn>Douglas</dfn> (Gawin) died 1522.</p>
<p><dfn>Drayton</dfn> (Michael) 1563-1631 ; The Moone-Calfe 1627; Dowsabel 1593.</p>

<p><dfn>Dryden</dfn> (John) 1631-1700.</p>
<p><dfn>Dymmok</dfn> (John) ; A Treaties of Ireland, about 1600.</p>
<p><dfn>Elyot</dfn> (Sir Thomas) died 1546; The Dictionary of syr Thomas Eliot knyght 1538.</p>
<p><dfn>Evans</dfn> (A. B. and S.); Leicestershire Words, Phrases and Proverbs 1881.</p>
<p><dfn>Fletcher</dfn> (John) 1579-1625 ; The Woman hater 1607 ; The Spanish Curate, about 1622.</p>
<p><dfn>Florio</dfn> (John) died 1625 ; A Worlde of Wordes, or most copious and exact Dictionarie in Italian and English 1598, (enlarged ed.) 1611.</p>
<p><dfn>Foxe</dfn> (John) 1516-87 ; Actes and Monuments of these latter and perillous dayes 1563, 1570, &c. [kuown as `The Book of Martyrs'].</p>
<p><dfn>Fuller</dfn> (Thomas) 1608-61 ; The Church-History of Britain 1655.</p>
<p><dfn>Gascoigne</dfn> (George) died 1577 ; The delectable history of Dan Bartholomew of Bath 1572-5.</p>
<p><dfn>Gerarde</dfn> (John) 1545-1612; The Herball, or generall historie of plantes 1597.</p>
<p><dfn>Golding</dfn> (Arthur) died 1605 (?); The XV. Bookes of P. Ovidius Naso entytuled Metamorphosis, translated oute of Latin into English meeter 1567.</p>
<p><dfn>Greene</dfn> (Robert) died 1592 ; The Scottish Historie of James the fourth.</p>
<p><dfn>Guillim</dfn> (John) 1565-1621 ; A Display of Heraldrie 1610</p>
<p><dfn>Hall</dfn> (Edward) died 1547; The Union of the two noble and illustrate famelies of Lancastre and Yorke. [ = Hall's Chronicle.]</p>
<p><dfn>Hall</dfn> (Joseph) 1574-1656 ; Virgidemiarum, sixe bookes of . . . satyrs 1597.</p>
<p><dfn>Harsnet</dfn> (Samuel) 1561-1631 ; A Declaration of egregious Popish Impostures . . . vnder the pretence of casting out diuels 1603.</p>
<p><dfn>Harvey</dfn> (Gabriel) 1550 (?)-1631.</p>
<p><dfn>Heslop</dfn> (Oliver) ; Northumberland Words 1892-4.</p>
<p><dfn>Heywood</dfn> (John) died 1580 (?) ; A Dialogue, conteyninge the number in effecte of all the Proverbes in the Englishe tunge 1561.</p>

<p><dfn>Hoccleve</dfn> (Tliomas) died 1450 (?).</p>
<p><dfn>Holinshed</dfn> (Raphael) died 1580 (?); The Chronicles of Englande, Scotlands, and Irelande 1577.</p>
<p><dfn>Holland</dfn> (Philemon) 1552-1637 ; The Historie of the World, commonly called the Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus 1601 ; The Philosophie, commonly called the Morals, wi-itten by . . . Plutarch of Chaeronea 1603.</p>
<p><dfn>Holme</dfn> (Randle) 1627-99; The Academy of Armory, or a storehouse of armory and blazon 1688.</p>
<p><dfn>Jonson</dfn> (Ben) 1573(?)-1637 ; Epigrams, published 1616 and 1640.</p>
<p><dfn>Kyd</dfn> (Thomas) 1558-94 ; The Tragedie of Soliman and Perseda 1592.</p>
<p><dfn>Latham</dfn> (Simon) flourished 1618 ; Lathams Falconry, or the Faulcons Lure and Cure 1615-18.</p>
<p><dfn>Leland</dfn> (John) died 1552 ; Itinerarium [1534-43].</p>
<p><dfn>Lily</dfn> (William) died 1522; Brevissima Institvitio [Latin grammar].</p>
<p><dfn>Marlowe</dfn> (Christopher) 1564-93 ; The Jew of Malta, about 1590; Tamburlaine 1587-8.</p>
<p><dfn>Middleton</dfn> (Thomas) died 1627 ; The Roaring Girle 1611.</p>
<p><dfn>Milton</dfn> (John) 1608-74; Paradise Lost 1667.</p>
<p><dfn>Minsheu</dfn> (John) flourished 1600-17; �������������� ������� ������� ���������������, id est Ductor in Linguas, The Gvide into Tongves 1617.</p>
<p><dfn>More</dfn> (Sir Thomas) 1478-1535.</p>
<p><dfn>Nashe</dfn> (Thomas) 1567-1601.</p>
<p><dfn>North</dfn> (Thomas) died 1601 (?) ; Tho Lives of the noble Grecians and Romanes, compared together by . . . Plutarche of Chaeronea: translated out of Greeke into French by J. Amyot, . . . Bishop of Auxerre . . . and out of French into Englishe by T. North 1579.</p>
<p><dfn>Overbury</dfn> (Sir Thomas) 1581-1613.</p>
<p><dfn>Palsgrave</dfn> (John) died 1554; Lesclarcissement de la Langue Francoyse 1530. [French grammar and vocabulary ; cited as <dfn>Palsgr</dfn>.]</p>

<p><dfn>Peele</dfn> (George) died 1597 (?) ; The Turkish Mahamet and Hyrin the fair Greek.</p>
<p><dfn>Randolph</dfn> (Thomas) 1605-35.</p>
<p><dfn>Ray</dfn> (John) 1627-1705; A Collection of English Words not generally used ... in two Alphabetical Catalogues. The one of such as are proper to the Northern, the other to the Southern Counties 1674.</p>
<p><dfn>Rider</dfn> (John) 1562-1632 ; Bibliotheca Scholastica, a double Dictionarie. Penned for all those that would have within short space the use of the Latin Tongue, either to speake or write 1589.</p>
<p><dfn>Robyn</dfn> Hode (A Lytell Geste of), about 1500.</p>
<p><dfn>Sherwood</dfn> : see Cotgrave.</p>
<p><dfn>Skelton</dfn> (John) died 1529 ; A . . . tratyse vpon a goodly Garlando or Chapelet of Laurell 1523 ; The boke of Phyllyp Sparowe.</p>
<p><dfn>Skinner</dfn> (Stephen) 1623-67 ; Etymologicon Linguae Anglicanae 1671.</p>
<p><dfn>Smith</dfn> (Sir Thomas) 1513-77 ; The Common Welth of England 1583.</p>
<p><dfn>Smyth</dfn> (Sir John) 1534(?)-1607; Certain Discourses . . . concerning the formes and effects of diuers sorts of Weapons, and other verie important matters Militarie 1590.</p>
<p><dfn>Spenser</dfn> (Edmund) died 1599 ; The Faerie Queene 1590-6.</p>
<p><dfn>Sternhold</dfn> (Thomas) and Hopkins (John) ; The whole booke of Psalmes collected into Englyshe Meter 1564.</p>
<p><dfn>Stow</dfn> (John) died 1605 ; A breviat Chronicle contaynynge all the Kynges 1561.</p>
<p><dfn>Stubbes</dfn> (Philip) flourished 1581-93; The Anatomie of Abuses 1583.</p>
<p><dfn>Swetnam</dfn> (Joseph) ; Swetnam the woman-hater, arraigned by women 1620.</p>
<p><dfn>Torriano</dfn> (Giovanni); Vocabolario Italiano & Inglese, a Dictionary Italian & English 1659.</p>
<p><dfn>Wright</dfn> (Thomas) 1810-77 ; Dictionary of obsolete and provincial English 1857.</p>

<H1>��3. TEXT AND ARRANGEMENT OF THE QUOTATIONS.</H1>
<p>The text used in the illustrative quotations is that of the Oxford Shakespeare,
edited by W. J. Craig, except in a few instances where it has been
set aside for some special reason. Where its numeration of act, scene, and
line differs greatly from that of other widely used editions, a second
reference is given within square brackets ; so that the Glossary is available
for all unabridged editions of the works.</p>

<p>Variant readings, and interpretations of particular quotations, are
placed within round brackets ; words inserted to complete the sense
within square brackets; ' &c.' following a quotation reference indicates
that more examples occur in the same play or poem.</p>

<p>Paraphrases of passages which are quoted very briefly or indicated by
a reference only are sometimes given between inverted commas, e.g.
ADVANTAGE sb. 3.</p>

<H1>��4. ABBEEVIATIONS OF TITLES OF PLAYS AND POEMS.</H1>
<p><dfn>Ado</dfn> = Much Ado about Nothing</p>
<p><dfn>All'sW.</dfn> = All's Well that Ends Well</p>
<p><dfn>Ant.</dfn> = Antony and Cleopatra</p>
<p><dfn>Arg.</dfn> = Argument</p>
<p><dfn>AYL.</dfn> = As You Like It</p>
<p><dfn>Caes.</dfn> = Julius Caesar</p>
<p><dfn>Chor.</dfn> = Chorus</p>
<p><dfn>Compl.</dfn> = A Lover's Complaint</p>
<p><dfn>Cor.</dfn> = Coriolanus</p>
<p><dfn>Cym.</dfn> = Cymbeline</p>
<p><dfn>Ded.</dfn> = Dedication</p>
<p><dfn>Epil.</dfn> = Epilogue</p>
<p><dfn>Err.</dfn> = The Comedy of Errors</p>
<p><dfn>Gent.</dfn> = The Two Gentlemen of Verona</p>
<p><dfn>1H4</dfn> = The First Part of King Henry IV</p>
<p><dfn>2H4</dfn> = The Second Part of King Henry IV</p>
<p><dfn>H5</dfn> = The Life of King Henry V </p>
<p><dfn>1H6</dfn> = The First Part of King Henry VI</p>
<p><dfn>2H6</dfn> = The Second Part of King Henry VI</p>
<p><dfn>3H6</dfn> = The Third Part of King Henry VI</p>
<p><dfn>H8</dfn> = The Famous History of the Life of King Henry VIII</p>
<p><dfn>Ham.</dfn> = Hamlet, Prince of Denmark</p>
<p><dfn>Ind.</dfn> = Induction</p>
<p><dfn>John</dfn> = The Life and Death of King John</p>

<p><dfn>LLL.</dfn> = Love's Labour 's Lost</p>
<p><dfn>Lr.</dfn> = King Lear</p>
<p><dfn>Lucr.</dfn> = The Rape of Lucrece</p>
<p><dfn>Mac.</dfn> = Macbeth</p>
<p><dfn>Meas.</dfn> = Measure for Measure</p>
<p><dfn>Mer.V.</dfn> = The Merchant of Venice</p>
<p><dfn>MND.</dfn> = A Midsummer-Night's Dream</p>
<p><dfn>Oth.</dfn> = Othello, the Moor of Venice</p>
<p><dfn>Per.</dfn> = Pericles, Prince of Tyre</p>
<p><dfn>Phoen.</dfn> = The Phoenix and the Turtle</p>
<p><dfn>Pilgr.</dfn> = The Passionate Pilgrim</p>
<p><dfn>Prol.</dfn> = Prologue</p>
<p><dfn>R2</dfn> = The Tragedy of King Richard II</p>
<p><dfn>R3</dfn> = The Tragedy of King Richard III</p>
<p><dfn>Rom.</dfn> = Romeo and Juliet</p>
<p><dfn>Shr.</dfn> = The Taming of the Shrew</p>
<p><dfn>Sonn.</dfn> = Sonnets</p>
<p><dfn>Sonn. Music</dfn> = Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music</p>
<p><dfn>Tim.</dfn> = Timon of Athens</p>
<p><dfn>Tit.</dfn> = Titus Andronicus</p>
<p><dfn>Tp.</dfn> = The Tempest</p>
<p><dfn>Troil.</dfn> = Troilus and Cressida</p>
<p><dfn>Tw.N.</dfn> = Twelfth-Night; or, What You Will</p>
<p><dfn>Ven.</dfn> = Venus and Adonis</p>
<p><dfn>Wint.</dfn> = The Winter's Tale</p>
<p><dfn>Wiv.</dfn> = The Merry Wives of Windsor</p>

<H1>��5. ABBEEVIATIONS OF TECHNICAL TEEMS.</H1>
<p><dfn>absol.</dfn> = absolute(ly), i.e. without some usual construction, as a verb without an object, an adjective without a noun</p>
<p><dfn>adj.</dfn> = adjective</p>
<p><dfn>adv.</dfn> = adverb</p>
<p><dfn>advb.</dfn> = adverbial(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>app.</dfn> = apparently</p>
<p><dfn>arch.</dfn> = archaic</p>
<p><dfn>attrib.</dfn> = attributive(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>c.</dfn>, <dfn>cent.</dfn> = century</p>
<p><dfn>cf.</dfn> = confer, compare</p>
<p><dfn>comb.</dfn> = in combination (with another noun)</p>
<p><dfn>comm.</dfn> = commentators</p>
<p><dfn>comp.</dfn> = compound</p>
<p><dfn>concr.</dfn> = concrete</p>
<p><dfn>conj.</dfn> = (1) conjecture(s), (2) conjunction</p>
<p><dfn>constr.</dfn> = (1) construed with, (2) consti-uction</p>
<p><dfn>corr.</dfn> = corruption</p>
<p><dfn>Cotgr.</dfn> = Cotgrave (see above, p. viii)</p>
<p><dfn>dial.</dfn> = dialect(s), dialectal(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>e. g.</dfn> = for example</p>
<p><dfn>edd.</dfn> = editions</p>
<p><dfn>Eliz.</dfn> = Elizabethan (see p. xii)</p>
<p><dfn>ellipt.</dfn> = elliptical(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>esp.</dfn> = especially</p>
<p><dfn>etym.</dfn>, <dfn>etymol.</dfn> = etymology, etymological</p>
<p><dfn>exx.</dfn> = examples</p>
<p><b>F<sub>1</sub></b><key type="������">F1</key>, &c., <dfn>Ff</dfn> = (see p. xii)</p>
<p><dfn>fig.</dfn> = figurative(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>foll.</dfn> = following</p>
<p><dfn>Fr.</dfn> = French</p>
<p><dfn>freq.</dfn> = frequent(Iy)</p>
<p><dfn>gen.</dfn> = general(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>i. e.</dfn> = id est, that is</p>
<p><dfn>imper.</dfn> = imperative</p>
<p><dfn>impers.</dfn> = impersonal</p>
<p><dfn>interj.</dfn> = interjection</p>
<p><dfn>intr.</dfn> = intransitive</p>
<p><dfn>It.</dfn> = Italian</p>
<p><dfn>J.</dfn> = Johnson (see above, p. vii)</p>

<p><dfn>L.</dfn> = Latin</p>
<p><dfn>lit.</dfn> = literal(Iy)</p>
<p><dfn>midl.</dfn> = midland</p>
<p><dfn>mod.</dfn> = modern</p>
<p><dfn>mod. edd.</dfn> = modern editions (from Rowe, 1709, onwards)</p>
<p><dfn>obj.</dfn> = object</p>
<p><dfn>obs.</dfn> = obsolete</p>
<p><dfn>occas.</dfn> = occasional(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>O.Fr.</dfn> = Old French</p>
<p><dfn>orig.</dfn> = original(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>Palsgr.</dfn> = Palsgrave (see above, p. ix)</p>
<p><dfn>pa. pple.</dfn> = past participle</p>
<p><dfn>pass.</dfn> = passive</p>
<p><dfn>pa. t.</dfn> = past tense</p>
<p><dfn>phr.</dfn> = phrase(s)</p>
<p><dfn>pl.</dfn> = plural</p>
<p><dfn>post-S.</dfn> = post-Shakespearian</p>
<p><dfn>ppl. adj.</dfn> = participial adjective</p>
<p><dfn>pple.</dfn> = participle</p>
<p><dfn>pre-Eliz.</dfn> = pre-Elizabethan</p>
<p><dfn>pre-S.</dfn> = pre-Shakespearian</p>
<p><dfn>prec.</dfn> = preceding</p>
<p><dfn>prep.</dfn> = preposition</p>
<p><dfn>prob.</dfn> = probably</p>
<p><b>Q<sub>1</sub></b><key type="������">Q1</key>, &c., <dfn>Qq</dfn> = (see p. xii)</p>
<p><dfn>q. v.</dfn> = quod vide, which see</p>
<p><dfn>ref.</dfn> = (1) reference, (2) referred, (3) referring</p>
<p><dfn>refl.</dfn> = reflexive</p>
<p><dfn>S.</dfn> = (1) Shakespeare, (2) Shakespearian (see p. xii)</p>
<p><dfn>sb.</dfn> = substantive</p>
<p><dfn>scil.</dfn> = scilicet, that is to say</p>
<p><dfn>sing.</dfn> = singular</p>
<p><dfn>spec.</dfn> = specific(ally)</p>
<p><dfn>s.v.</dfn> = sub verbo, under the word</p>
<p><dfn>syll.</dfn> = syllable(s)</p>
<p><dfn>trans.</dfn> = transitive</p>
<p><dfn>transf.</dfn> = in a transferred sense</p>
<p><dfn>usu.</dfn> = usual(ly)</p>
<p><dfn>vb.</dfn> = verb</p>
<p><dfn>vbl. sb.</dfn> = verbal substantive</p>
<p><dfn>viz.</dfn> = videlicet, namely</p>

<H1>��6. SIGNS, SYMBOLS, ETC.</H1>
<p><dfn>*</dfn> denotes a word, phrase, or passage the meaning of which is disputed. Alternative explanations of these are arranged under letters (a) (b) (c) ; see e.g. PURELY.</p>
<p><dfn>���</dfn> denotes a conjectural emendation, e.g. MARISH���; or a form of a word substituted by modern editors for the form found in old editions, e. g. STATUA���.</p>
<p><dfn>'</dfn> placed after a vowel marks the Shakespearian stressing of the word in question ; e. g. <i>ASPE'CT</i> ; <i>u'nfelt, unfe'lt</i> in the quotations s.v.</p>
<p>(<dfn>S.</dfn>), (<dfn>Eliz.</dfn>) placed immediately after a word or a definition mean that the word or the sense defined is peculiar to Shakespeare, characteristic of the Elizabethan period, respectively ; (not <dfn>pre-S.</dfn>), (not <dfn>pre-Eliz.</dfn>) are used with corresponding implication ; (<dfn>once</dfn>), (<dfn>twice</dfn>) = occurs only once, twice, in Shakespeare.</p>

<p>-----------------------</p>

<p>In the introductory note (immediately following the headword) of articles
in which two or more meanings are treated, the meanings are
referred to by their numbers, and the remarks appropriate to
each are placed after the respective number. Thus, when
expanded, the note s. v. CABIN vb. will read : With sense 1 compare
sense 2 of the substantive CABIN ; sense 2 has been echoed
by modern writers. The note s. v. LINE sb.1 : Sense 1 involves
a metaphor from angling ; sense 7 is recorded only from Shakespeare.</p>

<p>Etymological statements are placed within square brackets. The term
'aphetic' is applied to a form produced by the loss of an unaccented
vowel at the beginning of a word, e. g. LEGE, for 'allege'.</p>

<p><b>F<sub>1</sub></b><key type="������">F1</key>, <b>F<sub>2</sub></b><key type="������">F2</key>, <b>F<sub>3</sub></b><key type="������">F3</key>, <b>F<sub>4</sub></b><key type="������">F4</key> = 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th Folio edition (of 1623, 1632, 1663, 1685, respectively) ; <dfn>Ff</dfn> =all the Folio editions.</p>

<p><b>Q<sub>1</sub></b><key type="������">Q1</key>, <b>Q<sub>2</sub></b><key type="������">Q2</key>, &c. = 1st, 2nd, &c. Quarto edition; <dfn>Qq</dfn> = all the Quarto editions of a particular play or poem.</p>

<p>The method of recording variants is illustrated by the following examples:</p>
<indent val="2">
        <p>compulsative (S.; Ff), compulsatory (Qq)&mdash;means that the first
        form, which is peculiar to Shakespeare, is the reading of the
        Folios ; the Quartos having the second form.</p>
        <p>list sb.2: ...Oth. II. i. 104 (Q<sub>1</sub>; Qq<sub>23</sub> Ff <i>leaue</i>)&mdash;
        means that the 1st Quarto reads <i>list</i>, the 2nd and 3rd Quartos
        and all the Folios <i>leaue</i>.</p>
        <p>mistful ��� (Ff <i>mixtfull</i>)&mdash;means that <i>mistful</i> does not 
        occur in any old edition, all the Folios reading <i>mixtfull</i>.</p>
        <p>undistinguished ... <i>O undistinguish'd</i> (Q<sub>1</sub> Ff in-) <i>space of 
        woman's will!</i> (Qq <i>wit</i>)&mdash;informs us that the old editions 
        have the following readings (minor differences of spelling being neglected):&mdash;</p>
<indent val="3">
                <p>Folios <i>O indistinguish'd space of woman's will;</i></p>
                <p>1st Quarto <i>O indistinguish'd space of woman's wit;</i></p>
                <p>2nd and 3rd Quartos <i>O undistinguish'd space of woman's wit.</i></p>
<indent val="1">

<p>Italic type is restricted to quotations from the text of Shakespeare. Small capitals arc employed in referring from one article to another. An article immediately preceding or following is referred to as 'prec.' or 'next'.</p>


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