Saint Valentine's Day February 14. The old belief was that the first man seen by a maid on that day was destined to be her husband, and vice versa.
sallets tasty bits.
sanctuarize give sanctuary to a murderer.
satyr in Greek mythology, a woodland diety usually represented as having pointed ears, short horns, the head and body of a man, and the legs of a goat, and as being fond of riotous merriment and lechery.
scene individable preserving the unities.
scholar a person with the necessary knowledge of Latin to exorcise a spirit. This was a common Elizabethan belief.
sconce a slang word for head (literally, blockhouse).
scrimers fencers.
scullion a servant doing the rough, dirty work in a kitchen.
se offendendo in self-defense.
sea-gown a skirted garment with short sleeves, worn by seamen.
season qualify.
season ripen.
seized of put in legal possession of a feudal holding; assigned ownership.
Seneca (c. 4? B.C.3A.D. 65); Roman philosopher, dramatist, and statesman.
sets a blister In Elizabethan England, prostitutes were sometimes branded with a hot iron.
Shark'd gathered indiscriminately; got by fraud or stratagems.
sheeted shrouded.
shent rebuked.
shoon shoes.
shrewdly bitterly.
silence me hide myself.
simples medicinal herbs.
Sith since.
skirts the outer or bordering parts; outskirts, as of a city.
sledded Polacks the Polish army traveling on sleighs or sleds.
snuff accumulation of smoldering wick that caused the candle to smoke and burn less brightly.
so mope be so stupid.
solidity and compound mass the earth.
spirit of health There are two possible meanings. First, a saved (healthy) soul, not a lost one. Second, a healing or beneficent spirit.
splenetive full of spleen, hot-tempered.
springes snares consisting of a noose attached to something under tension, as a bent tree branch.
sterling true currency (with the value of an English silver penny).
Stick fiery off stand out brightly.
stoup a drinking cup; tankard.
sun a pun on son, again indicating Hamlet's dislike of the new relationship between himself and his uncle.
suppliance of a minute a minute's pastime.
supply and profit for the fulfillment and profitable conclusion of our hope.
Switzers Swiss mercenary soldiers; in this case, acting as the royal bodyguard.
swoopstake in a clean sweep.
tarre urge.
tax him home take him to task.
Tellus' in Roman mythology, the goddess of the earth.
temple body; the temple of the soul.
tend attend, wait.
tenures titles to property.
Termagant Herod favorite characters in the old miracle plays, who were always portrayed as blustering tyrants.
the burning zone the sun.
The dram of evil / Doth all the noble substance of a doubt, / To his own scandal a much-disputed passage. Perhaps a line is missing. The general meaning seems to be that it takes only a small portion of evil to bring a scandal on the entire substance, however noble it may otherwise be.
the region kites the kites of the air. The kite is a bird of prey in the falcon family.
the triumph of his pledge his drinking ability.
thieves of mercy merciful thieves.
this is for all to sum up.
this slave's offal the entrails of a butchered animal; here, the king's guts.
thy free awe your submission even after our armies have been withdrawn.
tickle sere made to laugh easily.
timber'd made of wood that is too light.
to the manner born accustomed to it since a child.
took the fruits of followed.
total gules completely red.
toy in blood trifling youthful passion.
toys of desperation desperate fancies or impulses — referring to the impulse to jump off a high place.
traduc'd and tax'd defamed and censored.
trick something trifling.
tristful sorrowful.
Tropically the use of a word or words in a figurative sense; figuratively, a trope being a figure of speech.
truepenny honest fellow.
tune of the time fashionable jargon.
turn the beam overbalance the scale.
turn Turk turn bad.
Twas Aeneas' tale to Dido the story of the sack of Troy as told to Queen Dido by Aeneas. (Virgil's Aeneid contains the story.)
twelve for nine In a match of twelve bouts (instead of the usual nine), Laertes will win by at least three up.
unbated not blunted.
unction ointment, salve; used for the act of annointing as in medical treatment or a religious ceremony.
Under the moon To be most effective, herbs are gathered by moonlight.
unfellowed without equal.
unfledg'd immature (literally designating a young bird without feathers and thus not able to fly).
unfold yourself to make known or lay open to view, especially in stages or little by little.
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled without the sacraments of communion, penance, and extreme unction.
unimproved mettle untested strength, courage, or character
union a large pearl.
unmaster'd importunity uncontrolled and determined wooing.
unproportion'd overly emotional, excessive.
unreclaimed untamed.
unshaped incoherent.
unsinew'd weak.
Up-spring a high-kicking, wild German dance.
