paddock toad.
pair of indentures agreements in duplicate.
pajock peacock.
palmy flourishing.
pardon permission.
partisan a broad-bladed weapon with a long shaft carried by foot soldiers, used especially in the 16ty century.
pass of practice a treacherous thrust or a warming-up exercise.
passages of proof proven by events.
peak mope.
Pelion, Olympus, and Ossa mountains in Greece; in Greek mythology, the Titans (giant deities) piled Pelion on Ossa and both on Olympus in a futile attempt to reach and attack the gods in heaven.
Perpend ponder.
Phoebus' cart Phoebus' chariot. In Greek mythology, Phoebus is Apollo as god of the sun.
physic the art or science of healing.
pickers and stealers hands.
pipe a recorder or flute. The stops are the fingerholes.
pitch and moment height and importance.
pith marrow.
Plautus ( 254?-184 B.C.); Roman writer of comic dramas.
plurisy excess.
poem unlimited a play that observed none of the ancient rules.
pole Polaris, the North Star, long used by navigators as a reliable point of reference.
politician plotter, schemer.
poniards daggers.
porpentine porcupine.
posy of a ring as brief and silly as the inscription inside a ring.
precurse sign, indication.
present immediate; of or at this time.
Priam legendary king of Troy, who reigned during the Trojan War; he was the father of Hector and Paris.
prick'd spurred or urged on
primal eldest curse that is, the one pronounced upon Cain in for the murder of his brother. Primal here means original.
primy in its prime, youthful.
probation proof.
prodigal exceedingly or recklessly wasteful, spendthrift.
proof eterne everlasting protection.
Provincial roses rosettes for concealing the laces on shoes.
purgation the act of purging; Hamlet probably intends a pun — to administer a purgative to get rid of the bile and to purge him of his guilt. The word recalls Hamlet's father, who is in purgatory.
put on me reported to me.
Pyrrhus in Greek mythology, the son of Achilles; one of the Greeks concealed in the famous wooden horse.
quaintly skillfully, ingeniously.
quarry heap of slain.
question subject.
quick o' the ulcer the heart of the matter.
quick living.
quiddities trifling distinctions; quibbles.
quilets quibbles.
quit in answer score a return hit.
rack cloud formations, a broken mass of clouds blown by the wind.
ranker greater.
razed slashed for ornamentation.
recks not his own rede doesn't take his own advice.
recorders a wind instrument with finger holes and a wedgelike part (a fipple) near the mouthpiece; fipple flute.
recover the wind a hunting phrase — to get to windward.
reechy smoky, dirty, foul, or rancid.
Rhenish Rhine wine.
rivals associates or companions in some duty.
robustious ranting.
rood a cross as used in crucifixion; specifically, the cross on which Jesus was crucified.
Roscius the most famous of ancient Roman actors.
round Polonius really means straight, but it is his nature to speak indirectly.
rouse a toast in which all glasses must be drained before lowering.
rouse draught of liquor, toast.
rub an obstacle hindrance, difficulty, or impediment.
russet Now, usually a reddish-brown color, but here the warm gray tone of homespun cloth.
