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As You Like It (Folger Shakespeare Library) Page 22


  45 Instance evidence/give an example

  46 still always

  46 fells fleeces

  49 grease sweat

  54 tarred ... sheep tar, having antiseptic properties, was applied to injured sheep 56 civet musky substance used in perfume and obtained from the anal glands of the civet cat 57 worms-meat i.e. rotten flesh

  57 respect of comparison with

  59 perpend consider

  60 flux flow

  60 Mend improve

  61 rest cease (Touchstone shifts sense to "remain")

  63 make incision cut, as raw meat is scored and salted for cooking/cut, for the medical purpose of letting blood (and curing folly)/graft on (wisdom), as a plant is cultivated 63 raw inexperienced/ignorant/uncooked

  64 that what

  64 get earn

  66 content ... harm patient in my own afflictions

  68 simple foolish

  69 offer presume/venture

  70 cattle animals/whores

  70 bawd pimp

  70 bell-wether leading male sheep of a flock (with a bell around its neck) 71 crooked-pated with crooked/curled horns

  72 cuckoldly a cuckold (man with an unfaithful wife) was traditionally said to grow horns 72 out of beyond the limits of

  77 Ind Indies

  81 lined drawn

  82 black to dark-complexioned, foul compared to

  84 fair beauty/light complexion

  85 together continuously

  86 It ... market i.e. the predictable verse resembles either the jogging to market of country women in a cart or the eager lust of a whore to put herself to sale 86 butter-women butter sellers/lecherous women/whores

  87 rank movement in line/lustful

  90 hart male deer

  90 hind female deer

  92 after kind act according to its nature (proverbial; plays on the sense of "have sex") 94 Wintered worn in winter/old

  94 lined plays on notion of sex between dogs, giving bawdy connotations to the next line (i.e. Rosalind will lose her slenderness to pregnancy) 96 reap perhaps with slang sense of "have sex"

  96 sheaf and bind tie the crop into bundles (perhaps with suggestion of pregnancy) 97 cart transport the crop in a cart/punish a prostitute by publicly carrying her in or whipping her behind a cart 98 nut plays on the sense of "vagina"

  100 rose plays on the sense of "vagina"

  101 prick thorn/penis

  102 false gallop canter

  105 fruit plays on sense of "genitals"

  106 graff graft i.e. make one plant grow onto another (plays on the sense of "have sex") 107 medlar tree bearing applelike fruits/medlar fruit (resembles the vagina)/pun on "meddler" (prostitute) 108 rotten infected with venereal disease

  108 right virtue true character

  114 For because

  116 civil sayings civilized reflections

  118 his erring its wandering

  119 span distance from thumb to little finger

  120 Buckles in encompasses

  127 quintessence purest essence/extract

  127 sprite spirit

  128 in little in miniature (i.e. in the form of Rosalind) 129 Nature charged ordered Nature

  131 wide-enlarged (that had been) widely dispersed

  132 presently immediately

  133 Helen's ... heart i.e. Helen of Troy's beauty but not her deceitful heart; when Paris carried Helen off to Troy war broke out between the Greeks and the Trojans 134 Cleopatra famous Egyptian queen

  135 Atalanta's better part presumably her beauty or perhaps athletic skill; Atalanta declared that she would marry only the man who could defeat her in a race, whereas losing suitors would be killed 136 Lucretia's modesty raped by Tarquin, Lucretia was so ashamed she committed suicide 138 synod assembly/conjunction of planets

  140 touches features

  141 would willed

  142 I to that I should

  143 Jupiter, king of the gods who carried off the beautiful youth Ganymede 146 Back (to Corin and Touchstone) move back

  147 sirrah sir (used to an inferior)

  149 bag and baggage collective property of an army

  149 scrip and scrippage nonce phrase referring to a shepherd's pouch (scrip) and its contents 153 feet i.e. metrical feet

  160 seven ... wonder from the phrase "a nine days' wonder" (so Rosalind has been wondering about the verses for quite a while) 162 Pythagoras Greek philosopher who believed in the transmigration of souls from humans to animals 162 that when

  163 Irish rat supposedly the Irish could kill rats with rhyming incantations 164 Trow know

  166 And a chain i.e. yes, it is, and one with a chain 167 Change you colour? Are you blushing?

  169 friends plays on the sense of "lovers"

  169 friends ... encounter inversion of the proverb "friends may meet, but mountains never greet"

  169 encounter plays on the sense of "sexual union"

  173 possible i.e. that you do not know

  174 I ... vehemence I earnestly beg you

  176 wonderful incredible

  177 out ... whooping beyond what all shouts of astonishment can express 179 Good my complexion! Oh (have mercy on) my temperament/curiosity!

  180 caparisoned dressed

  181 South ... discovery i.e. as lengthy as an exploratory voyage over the South Seas 182 apace swiftly

  188 belly stomach/womb (playing on drink in its slang sense of "have sex") 189 of God's making i.e. a real man

  193 stay wait for

  197 sad ... maid i.e. seriously and truly

  204 Wherein went he? What was he wearing?

  204 makes he is he doing

  208 Gargantua the giant in Francois Rabelais' book Gargantua (1534) 210 particulars details

  210 catechism series of set questions and answers used as a form of instruction by the Church 214 atomies motes, atoms

  214 resolve the propositions answer the questions

  216 relish flavor

  216 good observance close attention

  218 Jove's tree oak trees were associated with Jove

  220 Give me audience listen to me

  222 along out

  225 "holla" stop (used to a horse)

  225 curvets leaps about

  226 furnished dressed

  227 heart puns on "hart" (male deer)

  228 burden chorus

  232 bring me out make me forget what I was saying

  232 Soft! Wait a moment!

  235 lief willingly

  237 society company

  243 ill-favouredly poorly

  245 just exactly

  251 pretty clever

  252 acquainted plays on the sense of "sexually familiar"

  252 conned learned by heart

  253 rings which had verses engraved on them (also slang for "vaginas") 254 right painted cloth in the manner of a cheap hanging depicting commonplace mythological scenes 255 questions topics

  257 Atalanta famed for her swiftness

  259 breather i.e. living being

  262 change exchange

  264 troth faith

  268 figure image (Orlando plays on the sense of "number") 269 cipher zero

  274 saucy lackey insolent minion

  275 habit appearance

  275 play the knave play a boy/trick him

  282 detect reveal

  286 divers various

  291 hard with an uneasy pace, with difficulty

  292 contract ... marriage formal betrothal

  293 se'nnight week (seven nights)

  299 lean unrewarding/thin

  299 wasteful time-wasting/causing one to waste away

  300 tedious troublesome/painful

  304 softly slowly

  306 vacation period during which the law courts are suspended 307 term period appointed for the sitting of courts of law 309 skirts outskirts

  312 cony rabbit

  312 kindled born

  314 purchase acquire

  314 removed remote

  316 religio
us pious/monastic/scrupulous

  317 inland of civilized society

  317 courtship court life/wooing

  319 touched tainted

  320 generally without exception

  326 his its

  328 physic medicine

  329 haunts who hangs around

  332 fancy-monger dealer in love

  334 quotidian daily recurring fever

  337 marks signs, symptoms

  338 cage of rushes i.e. flimsy prison

  341 blue i.e. with dark circles

  342 unquestionable unwilling to be questioned

  344 your ... revenue your beard is like a younger brother's income (i.e. small) 346 ungartered not tied up

  346 unbanded without a colored hatband

  349 point-device immaculate

  349 accoutrements clothes

  349 as as if

  353 apter more likely

  355 still always

  356 sooth truth

  362 merely entirely

  363 dark ... do imprisonment in the dark and whipping were "treatments" for the insane 365 profess practice, have knowledge in

  370 moonish changeable

  371 fantastical fanciful, impulsive

  372 apish foolish

  374 cattle ... colour beasts of this kind

  375 entertain welcome, treat well

  376 forswear deny, reject

  376 that so that

  377 drave drove

  377 living genuine

  379 merely utterly

  381 liver thought to be the seat of the passions

  381 sound healthy

  385 cote cottage

  387 by on

  Act 3 Scene 3

  1 apace quickly

  2 how what

  3 simple feature plain appearance (Audrey may understand "specific part/penis") 4 warrant protect

  6 capricious lascivious, fickle (from the Latin caper meaning "goat"; the wordplay is reinforced by goats/Goths having similar pronunciations) 6 Ovid ... Goths Roman poet Ovid, author of The Art of Love, was banished to live among the Goths; he complained that they did not understand his verses

  7 ill-inhabited poorly lodged

  7 Jove ... house having been turned away by others, the disguised Jove and his son Mercury were welcomed into the humble dwelling of Philemon and Baucis 10 seconded backed, supported

  10 forward precocious

  11 great ... room large bill for insubstantial accommodation; some critics see a reference to the 1593 tavern murder of playwright Christopher Marlowe, supposedly the result of a dispute about the bill 14 honest respectable/genuine

  17 feigning imaginative/deceitful

  21 honest truthful/chaste

  25 hard-favoured ugly

  27 material meaningful, full of matter/concerned with earthly things 30 foul loathsome/filthy/ugly

  30 slut woman of slovenly habits/kitchen maid/whore

  31 meat food (plays on the sense of "penis")

  31 dish plays on the sense of "vagina"

  35 Sir Oliver Martext "Sir" was sometimes used for priests who were not university graduates; 36 Martext (mar-text) suggests an uneducated priest who could not expound upon the Scriptures 36 next nearest

  37 couple marry (plays on the sense of "get us to have sex") 38 fain willingly

  38 meeting encounter/sexual union

  41 stagger falter

  42 assembly congregation

  42 horn-beasts suggestive of cuckolds

  42 what though what of it

  43 necessary inevitable

  44 knows ... goods i.e. is very well off

  47 deer plays on the sense of "dear"

  48 rascal young or inferior deer in a herd/ordinary husband 49 walled i.e. fortified

  51 defence possibly plays on type of fortification known as "hornwork"

  52 to want be lacking

  55 dispatch us settle (i.e. marry)

  58 on as the

  62 What-ye-call't probably a joking reluctance to say "Jaques" (i.e. "jakes" meaning "lavatory") 63 'ild yield (i.e. reward)

  63 last most recent (i.e. present)

  64 toy in hand trifle to attend to

  65 covered i.e. put on your (respectfully removed) hat 67 bow yoke

  67 curb restraining strap attached to the bit

  68 bells attached to the falcon's leg

  69 bill stroke beak with beak

  69 nibbling having sex/seizing

  73 wainscot wooden paneling

  74 green not dried thoroughly/unseasoned

  75 warp shrink/go wrong

  76 I ... but I am inclined to think that

  77 of by

  77 like likely

  78 well properly

  82 bawdry lewdness

  84 "O ... thee" lines from a lost Elizabethan ballad, originally paired with a reply; Touchstone rejects the lines of the abandoned woman, in favor of the dismissive answer 84 brave fine, worthy

  87 Wind wend, go

  90 fantastical capricious, mad

  91 flout mock/jeer

  Act 3 Scene 4

  6 dissembling deceitful

  6 dissembling ... Judas i.e. reddish, traditionally the hair color of Judas, the disciple who betrayed Christ with a kiss 7 his ... children refers to the kiss with which Judas betrayed Christ 10 your this

  11 only i.e. most desirable

  13 holy bread bread blessed and distributed to those who had not taken Communion; after the Reformation, bread provided for the Eucharist 14 cast sculpted/cast-off/chaste

  14 Diana goddess of chastity

  15 of winter's sisterhood i.e. sworn to coldness

  22 verity sincerity

  22 concave hollow

  23 covered goblet empty drinking vessel (covered when not in use) 28 tapster barman, tavern keeper

  29 reckonings personal esteem/bills

  31 question conversation

  37 traverse crosswise/poorly aimed and broken across (jousting term) 37 puny tilter insignificant, petty jouster

  39 goose fool

  42 complained of lamented over

  47 pageant spectacle, scene

  51 mark observe

  52 remove move

  Act 3 Scene 5

  5 Falls lets fall

  6 But ... pardon without begging pardon first (a traditional practice) 7 he ... lives the executioner who earns his living until he dies 11 pretty ingenious

  13 coward gates i.e. eyelids

  13 atomies atoms, specks

  17 counterfeit pretend

  22 rush waterside plant

  23 cicatrice scar

  23 capable impressure palpable impression

  29 fancy love

  31 keen sharp

  38 What though what does it matter

  40 Than ... bed i.e. than ought to go to bed in darkness so that your lover will not see you 43 ordinary common condition

  44 sale-work ready-made goods of inferior quality

  44.'Od's (may) God save

  45 tangle ensnare

  48 bugle glass beads, usually black

  51 south south wind

  51 wind and rain i.e. sighs and tears

  52 properer more handsome, finer

  55 glass mirror

  57 lineaments facial features

  62 Cry beg

  63 Foul ... scoffer ugliness is most hideous when it is rough and abusive 65 together uninterruptedly

  70 sauce rebuke

  74 in wine when drunk

  76 tuft of olives clump of olive trees

  76 hard close

  77 ply urge

  80 abused in sight deceived in his perception

  82 Dead Shepherd i.e. Christopher Marlowe (murdered in 1593), from whose poem Hero and Leander the ensuing quotation is taken 82 saw maxim, saying

  82 of might powerful, convincing

  91 extermined exterminated

  92 love ... neighbourly refers to the biblical instruction to "love thy neighbor as thyself"

  94 covetousness
refers to the Tenth Commandment, which prohibits coveting one's neighbor's goods 98 erst formerly

  103 poverty deficiency

  105 ears i.e. of corn

  108 erewhile a short time ago

  110 bounds land

  111 carlot churl, peasant

  113 peevish silly, foolish/spiteful

  119 complexion face/appearance

  124 lusty lively

  126 constant unchanging

  126 damask pink or light red

  128 parcels bits, parts

  134 am remembered remember

  135 again back

  136 omittance ... quittance not having done so does not mean I never shall 140 straight straight away

  142 passing excessively

  Act 4 Scene 1

  6 betray expose

  6 modern censure commonplace judgment

  8 sad Rosalind quibbles on the sense of "massive, solid"

  9 post stout pole

  11 emulation envy of those who are superior

  11 fantastical fanciful, extravagant

  13 politic crafty

  14 nice fastidious

  15 simples ingredients (literally, medicinal herbs)

  16 sundry varied

  17 often frequent

  18 humorous moody

  26 travel voyage/take pains

  28 an if

  29 lisp put on a foreign accent

  30 strange suits foreign clothes

  30 disable disparage

  31 nativity birth (i.e. nationality)

  33 swam floated, traveled

  41 clapped him o'th'shoulder merely tapped him/arrested him 42 heart-whole essentially unaffected, with the heart unengaged 48 jointure marriage settlement that provided for the wife in the event of her husband's death 51 horns of a snail/of a cuckold

  51 fain obliged

  52 beholding indebted

  52 armed ... fortune i.e. as a snail, naturally possessed of horns 53 prevents the slander forestalls the disrepute

  58 leer complexion, appearance

  59 holiday humour festive mood

  61 very true

  64 gravelled stumped

  65 out at a loss for words

  66 warn protect, warrant

  66 cleanliest shift most skillful measure

  71 Who ... out Rosalind goes on to play with the sense of "denied vaginal entry"

  73 honesty chastity

  73 ranker more corrupt

  74 of my suit out of my courtship/clothing

  81 by attorney by proxy (as opposed to "in person")

  83 videlicet "namely" (Latin)

  83 Troilus lover of Cressida, who proved faithless to him; he was killed by Achilles during the Trojan war 85 die may play on the sense of "experience orgasm"

  85 patterns models

  86 Leander in classical mythology, Leander regularly swam across the river Hellespont to see his lover Hero of Sestos, until one night he drowned 86 though even if

  90 found it concluded the cause

  94 right real

  97 coming-on agreeable, encouraging

  100 Fridays and Saturdays days on which Christians abstained from eating meat 102 twenty twenty more

  112 Go to expression of impatient dismissal

  115 fast firmly/quickly

  118 commission authority

  119 goes ... priest proceeds with the service more quickly than the priest 124 possessed married/had sex with

  130 Barbary cock-pigeon male pigeon thought to be from Barbary (north Africa) 131 against before, in anticipation of