English III Honors Vocabulary Page (click here to return home; Elizabethan Drama)

Hamlet, by William Shakespeare:

The following words were crossed referenced from Shakespeare's Hamlet and 1000 Most Important Words, edited by Norman Schur (Ballantine Books).

1. calumny: 1. the making of false statements about somebody with malicious intent. 2. a slanderous statement or false accusation- Latin: calumnia

2. chary: adj. 1. cautiously reluctant to do something; 2. reluctant to share, give, or use something; 3. fussily concerned; 4. showing or characterized by shyness or modesty. - Old English "cearig"= Old Saxon "carag", Old High German "charag", from West Germanic, from base of "care"
Encarta® World English Dictionary © 1999 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Developed for Microsoft by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc.

3. contumacious: adj. wilfully obstinate;stubbornly disobedient.

4. dalliance: n. Friviolous spending of time; dawdling, playful flirtation

5. erudite: (adj.)- learned; characterized by erudition (deep and extensive learning)
Origin: derived from the Middle English erudite and the Latin eruditis.

6. guise: (n)- . 1) outward appearance; aspect. 2) mode of dress; garb. 3) custom; habit. Origin: derived from the Middle English term for fashion, and in Old French, of Germanic origin

7. harbinger: (n.) one that foreshadows or predicts what is to come; a forefunner. (v.) to foreshadow. Origin: Old English herbengar : person sent ahead to arrange lodgings. Old French berbergeor: to provide lodgings for Germanic origin herberge: lodging

8. lugubrious: (adj.) excessively gloomy, or mournful. Origin: From Latin Lugere: to mourn

9. palpable: adj. Capable of being handled, touched, or felt; tangible: “Anger rushed out in a palpable wave through his arms and legs” (Herman Wouk).
Easily perceived; obvious: “There was a palpable sense of expectation in the court” (Nelson DeMille). Medicine. That can be felt by palpating: a palpable tumor. [Middle English, from Old French, from Late Latin palp bilis , from Latin palp re ,to touch gently . See pl- in Indo-European Root]

10. prate (see also prattle): v. prat·ed, prat·ing, prates
v. intr. To talk idly and at length; chatter.
v. tr. To utter idly or to little purpose.
n. Empty, foolish, or trivial talk; idle chatter.

[Middle English praten , from Middle Dutch pr ten .]

11. rectify: V. 1. To set right; correct. 2. To correct by calculation or adjustment. Origin: [Middle English rectifien, from Old French rectifier, from Medieval Latin rctificre : Latin rctus, right; see reg- in Indo-European Roots + Latin -ficre, -fy.]
recreant c.1300 (adj.) "confessing oneself to be overcome or vanquished," from O.Fr. recreant "yielding, giving," prp. of recroire "to yield in a trial by combat, surrender allegiance," perhaps on notion of "take back one's pledge, yield one's cause," from re- "again, back" + croire "entrust, believe," from L. credere.

12. redress: V. 1. To set right; remedy or rectify. 2. To make amends to.
3. To adjust. Origin: [Middle English redressen, from Old French redrecier : re-, re- + drecier, to arrange; see dress.] redress (v.) c.1366, from O.Fr. redrecier, from re- "again" + drecier "to straighten, arrange." Formerly used in many more senses than currently.

13. retrograde: adj. 1. Moving or tending backward. 2. Opposite to the usual order; inverted or reversed. 3. Reverting to an earlier or inferior condition.
4. Astronomy. a. Of or relating to the orbital revolution or axial rotation of a planetary or other celestial body that moves clockwise from east to west, in the direction opposite to most celestial bodies. b. Of or relating to the brief, regularly occurring, apparently backward movement of a planetary body in its orbit as viewed against the fixed stars, caused by the differing orbital velocities of Earth and the body observed. 5. Archaic. Opposed; contrary. [Middle English, from Latin retrgradus, from retrgrad, to go back  : retr-, retro- + -gradus, walking (from grad, to go. See ghredh- in Indo-European Roots).]

14. rue: (v): to feel regret, remorse, or sorrow for
Middle English- ruen
Old English hreowan: to affect with grief, and hreowian: to repent

15. ruminate: (v): to turn a matter over and over in the mind; to chew cud; to reflect on over and over again
Latin - rumin: throat/ Stomach

16. soliloquy: n. pl. so·lil·o·quies. 1. a. A dramatic or literary form of discourse in which a character talks to himself or herself or reveals his or her thoughts without addressing a listener. b. A specific speech or piece of writing in this form of discourse. 2. The act of speaking to oneself. [Late Latin sliloquium : Latin slus, alone; see s(w)e- in Indo-European Roots + Latin loqu, to speak; see tolkw- in Indo-European Roots.]

17. surmise: (v.) to infer somethign without conclusive evidence.

18. surreptitious: (adj.) acting with or marked by stealth

19. toady: (noun) a person who behaves obsequiously to someone important.

20. ubiquitous: (adj.) present, appearing, or found everywhere : his ubiquitous influence was felt by all the family | cowboy hats are ubiquitous among the male singers.