Summary, Analysis, and Original Text by Scene

Act IV: Scene 1

rayed (3) dirtied.

coney-catching (38) cheating, trickery.

fustian (42) a coarse cloth of cotton and linen.

jacks (43) servingmen; also, drinking vessels.

jills (44) maidservants; also "gills," drinking vessels.

fallen out (48) quarreling.

imprimis (59) in the first place.

foul (60) muddy.

miry (67) full of, or having the nature of, mire; swampy.

bemoiled (67) dirtied with mire.

countenance (89) to give support or sanction to; approve or tolerate.

credit (94) pay respects to.

cock's passion (107) by God's (Christ's) suffering.

drudge (117) a person who does hard, menial, or tedious work.

unpinked (121) lacking in eyelets or in ornamental tracing in the leather.

link (122) a torch made of tow and pitch.

soud (130) a nonsense expression of impatience.

unwilling (144) unintentional.

dresser (151) the person who dresses or prepares the food.

trenchers (153) wooden boards or platters on which to carve or serve meat.

jolt-heads (154) blockheads.

sermon of continency (171) lecture on self-restraint; moderation.

"man my haggard" (181) "tame my wild [female] hawk."

kites (183) any of various accipitrine birds with long, pointed wings and, usually, a forked tail: they prey especially on insects, reptiles, and small mammals.

hurly (191) uproar; turmoil.

humor (197) disposition or temperament.


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