ACT IV - Scene III — Vocabulary

Vocabulary Words from ACT IV - Scene III

birthdom (noun)

One's native land or homeland; the country of one's birth.

dolor (noun)

Grief, sorrow, or lamentation.

transpose (verb)

To change or transform the nature of something; to alter fundamentally.

rawness (noun)

A state of vulnerability or exposure; being unprotected and defenseless.

affeer'd (adjective)

Confirmed, ratified, or legally established; made firm.

luxurious (adjective)

Lustful, lecherous, or excessively given to sensual pleasures. (In Elizabethan usage, not related to material luxury.)

voluptuousness (noun)

Excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures; extreme lust.

continent (adjective)

Restraining, containing, or exercising self-control. (Adjective form, not the geographical noun.)

stanchless (adjective)

Unable to be satisfied or stopped; insatiable; that cannot be stanched.

foisons (noun)

Abundance, plenty; a rich supply of resources or provisions.

portable (adjective)

Bearable, tolerable, or able to be endured. (Not related to physical carrying.)

interdiction (noun)

A formal prohibition or ban; the act of forbidding or excluding someone from rights or privileges.

scruples (noun)

Doubts, hesitations, or moral uncertainties that prevent action.

abjure (verb)

To formally renounce, retract, or repudiate a previous statement or belief.

sundry (adjective)

Various, several, or of different kinds.

ecstasy (noun)

Madness, frenzy, or a state of being beside oneself. (In Elizabethan usage, not joy.)

modern (adjective)

Ordinary, commonplace, or everyday. (In Elizabethan usage, the opposite of its present meaning.)

fee-grief (noun)

A private sorrow belonging to a single individual, as opposed to a grief shared by many. From "fee" meaning personal property.

quarry (noun)

A heap of slaughtered game after a hunt; the bodies of the dead. (Not a stone quarry.)

fell (adjective)

Fierce, savage, cruel, or deadly. (Adjective, as in "at one fell swoop.")