Act III - Scene I Rome. Before the Capitol, the Senate Sitting Above — Vocabulary

Vocabulary Words from Act III - Scene I Rome. Before the Capitol, the Senate Sitting Above

puissant (adjective)

Having great power or influence; mighty. A formal, French-derived term used in courtly address.

bootless (adjective)

Useless; unavailing; without profit or advantage.

couchings (noun)

Acts of bowing low or crouching in submission; servile gestures of deference.

preordinance (noun)

A decree or law established beforehand; something ordained in advance.

enfranchisement (noun)

The granting of freedom or liberty; release from bondage or legal restriction.

firmament (noun)

The sky or heavens, especially as conceived as a solid dome or vault in classical and medieval cosmology.

apprehensive (adjective)

In Elizabethan usage: capable of understanding or perceiving; having the faculty of apprehension (not the modern sense of 'anxious').

confounded (adjective)

Confused, bewildered, or stunned; thrown into disorder.

mutiny (noun)

In Elizabethan English: a civil disturbance, uprising, or tumult (broader than the modern military-specific meaning).

conceit (verb)

To conceive of, think, or judge. In this context, to form an opinion about someone.

corse (noun)

An archaic or poetic form of 'corpse'; a dead body.

Lethe (noun)

In Greek mythology, the river of forgetfulness in the underworld. Here used poetically to mean lifeblood or death-stream.

Ate (noun)

The Greek goddess of mischief, ruin, and blind folly. Pronounced 'AH-tee.' She personifies reckless destruction.

carrion (noun/adjective)

The decaying flesh of dead animals; rotting. Used here to describe men left unburied after war.

redress (verb)

To set right; to remedy or correct a wrong or grievance.

vouchsafe (verb)

To grant or give something in a gracious or condescending manner; to deign.

prostrate (adjective)

Lying face down on the ground, especially as a gesture of submission, reverence, or helplessness.

spoil (noun)

In hunting terminology: the skin and entrails of a slain animal. Here, the remains or evidence of Caesar's killing.

hie (verb)

To go quickly; to hasten. A common Elizabethan word for swift movement.