adoption tried friendship that has stood the test of time.
aery nest.
aim to guess or conjecture.
angle fishing line.
an't if it.
antique Roman The ancient Roman was ever ready to commit suicide when confronted with calamity.
apoplex'd paralyzed.
argal therefore.
arms a coat of arms, being a group of emblems and figures arranged on and around a shield and serving as the special insignia of a person, family, or institution.
arras a tapestry wall hanging.
assay of arms try to raise.
assays of bias This is a metaphor from the game of lawn bowling; the weight in the ball, which causes it to follow a curved line, is called the bias. Hence the meaning of the phrase is "indirect attempts."
assigns appurtenances.
assurance a pun on conveyance of property by deed and security.
batten to grow fat; thrive; to be well fed or wealthy at another's expense.
Be as ourself in Denmark Claudius is extending to Hamlet all the special privileges and prerogatives belonging to a crowned prince.
be idle seem crazy.
beetles o'er overhangs.
bend you incline yourself.
berattle abuse.
beteem permit.
bilboes long iron bars with sliding shackles, for fettering prisoners' feet.
bisson rheum blinding tears.
blank the center spot of a target; bull's-eye.
blench to shrink back, as in fear; flinch.
blood and judgment passion and reason.
bodkin a dagger or stiletto.
botch a badly patched place or part
bourn limit; boundary.
brainish apprehension mad notion (that he heard a rat).
bray out celebrate.
breathing time time of exercise.
broad blown in full blossom.
brokers people who act as agents or intermediaries in negotiating contracts, buying and selling, and so forth.
bruit proclaim.
bugs terrors, nightmares.
bung-hole a hole in a barrel or keg through which liquid can be poured in or drawn out.
the burning zone the sun.
buttons buds.
Buz, buz a slang expression for "tell me something I don't know."
buzzers gossipers.
Cain's jaw-bone the jawbone of an ass, with which Cain is supposed to have killed Abel.
candied sugared with hypocrisy.
carbuncles precious stones of fiery red color.
carve choose.
cast beyond ourselves look beyond what we know or understand.
cataplasm a poultice, often medicated.
cautel craft, deceit.
cease of majesty death of a king.
censure opinion
cerements cloths or sheets wrapped around a dead person; shrouds.
chameleon's dish The chameleon was supposed to feed on air.
changeling a child secretly put in the place of another; especially, in folk tales, one exchanged in this way by fairies.
chapfallen a pun; disheartened, depressed, or humiliated (literally, having one's lower jaw hanging down).
chapless jawless.
character a pun on character in the sense of personal qualities.
chariest most modest and virtuous.
chaste treasure precious chastity.
checking at swerving aside from; a term in hawking.
chopine a woman's shoe with a very thick sole, as of cork.
chorus in ancient Greek drama, a company of performers whose singing, dancing, and narration provide explanation and elaboration of the main action.
chough a chatterer.
cicatrice scar or wound.
clepe to call or address (a person).
clout a piece of cloth; a rag.
Clowns rustics. The word indicates that these roles were played by comic actors.
Cock corruption for God
cockle hat a hat adorned with cockle shells and worn by pilgrims.
collection inference.
compass the tonal range of a musical instrument.
compelled valour bravery that stems from necessity.
complete steel full armor.
compounded restored, mingled.
Confederate season suitable opportunity.
confine prison.
congruing agreeing.
conjunctive closely united.
contagious blastments destructive blights.
continent containing enough ground.
contraction the marriage contract.
contumely haughty and contemptuous rudeness; insulting and humiliating treatment or language.
conveyance the document by which real property is transferred from one person to another; deed.
convocation of politic worms a political assembly of worms; an allusion to the Diet of Worms (1521), a convocation held by the Catholic Church to allow Martin Luther to explain his reform of doctrine. He had first set his beliefs forth in Wittenberg, where Hamlet and Horatio have studied.
convoy is assistant a means of conveyance is available.
coronet weeds garlands of flowers.
corse corpse, dead body.
coted overtook.
couch lie concealed; to hide.
counsel secrets.
counter on the false trail (a hunting term); treason.
counterfeit presentment portrait.
cousin kinsman. This word was used for any near relation; here it would refer to nephew.
cozenage treachery.
cozen'd cheated.
crack the wind of overwork. The phrase comes from working a horse so hard that it becomes winded.
crants wreaths.
credent credulous.
crescent increasing, growing.
crowner coroner.
Cyclops in Greek mythology, any of a race of giants who have only one eye, in the middle of the forehead; they assisted Vulcan, the god of fire.
