we'll not carry coals an old-fashioned saying, which meant to submit to insults.
colliers coal miners.
draw your neck out of collar Gregory puns on the word "draw" here, implying that Sampson will draw or slip his head out of a hangman's noose (collar).
maidenhead virginity.
I will bite my thumb at them, which is a disgrace to them if they bear it an Italian insult, a provocative, probably obscene gesture.
bills medieval weapons having a hook-shaped blade with a spike at the back, mounted on a long staff.
partisans broad-bladed weapons with a long shaft, used especially in the 16th century.
purple fountains jets of blood.
mistemper'd bad-tempered, angry; here, also referring to weapons which have been tempered, or made hard, in blood rather than water.
moved angry.
artificial night Romeo's behavior is unnatural (artificial).
true shrift confession.
love so gentle in his view love, often represented as Cupid, appears gentle.
in proof when actually experienced.
stay undergo.
posterity Rosaline's celibacy will prevent her passing on her beauty to her children or descendants.
forsworn promised not to love.
do I live dead Romeo regards Rosaline's decision to remain chaste as a form of living death.
