Act 2 Vocabulary Words
1. Dale : an open valley in a hilly area
2. Anon : (old-fashioned or informal) in a little while
Ex:Our queen and all her elves come here anon.
3. Wrath : belligerence, extremely angry, aroused by a real or supposed wrong
Ex:Take heed the Queen come not within his sight,
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling.
4. Changeling : a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
Ex:Take heed the Queen come not within his sight,
For Oberon is passing fell and wrath
Because that she, as her attendant, hath
A lovely boy stolen from an Indian king;
She never had so sweet a changeling.
5. Shrewd : good at tricking people to get something
Ex:Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow.
6. Knave : a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
Ex: Either I mistake your shape and making quite,
Or else you are that shrewd and knavish sprite
Called Robin Goodfellow.
7. Beguile : influence by slyness
Ex: I jest to Oberon and make him smile
When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile,
Neighing in likeness of a filly foal.
8. Tarry : stay longer than you should
Tarry, rash wanton. Am not I thy lord?
9. Progeny : the immediate descendants of a person
Ex:And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
10. Dissension : a conflict of people's opinions, actions, or characters
And this same progeny of evils comes
From our debate, from our dissension;
We are their parents and original.
11. Wanton :indulgent in immoral or improper behavior
Full often hath she gossiped by my side
And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands,
Marking th’ embarkèd traders on the flood,
When we have laughed to see the sails conceive
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
Following (her womb then rich with my young squire),
Would imitate
12. Gait : a person's manner of walking
Full often hath she gossiped by my side
And sat with me on Neptune’s yellow sands,
Marking th’ embarkèd traders on the flood,
When we have laughed to see the sails conceive
And grow big-bellied with the wanton wind;
Which she, with pretty and with swimming gait,
Following (her womb then rich with my young squire),
Would imitate
13. Promontory : a natural elevation (a rocky promontory)
Thou rememb’rest
Since once I sat upon a promontory
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song
14. Dulcet : pleasing to the ear
Thou rememb’rest
Since once I sat upon a promontory
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin’s back
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song
15. Chaste : morally pure
But I might see young Cupid’s fiery shaft
Quenched in the chaste beams of the wat’ry moon,
And the imperial vot’ress passèd on
In maiden meditation, fancy-free.
16. Leviathan : monstrous sea creature symbolizing evil in the Old Testament
Fetch me this herb, and be thou here again
Ere the leviathan can swim a league.
17. Entice : provoke someone to do something through persuasion
Do I entice you? Do I speak you fair?
18. Fawn :try to gain favor through flattery or deferential behavior
I am your spaniel, and, Demetrius,
The more you beat me I will fawn on you.
19. Spurn : reject with contempt
Use me but as your spaniel: spurn me, strike me,
Neglect me, lose me; only give me leave
(Unworthy as I am) to follow you.
20. Impeach :challenge the honesty or veracity of
You do impeach your modesty too much
To leave the city and commit yourself
Into the hands of one that loves you not
21. Woo : make amorous advances towards
We cannot fight for love as men may do.
We should be wooed and were not made to woo.
22. Disdainful : expressing extreme contempt
Take thou some of it, and seek through this grove.
He gives Robin part of the flower.
A sweet Athenian lady is in love
With a disdainful youth.
23. Anoint : administer an oil or ointment to, often ceremonially
Anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady.
24. Espy : catch sight of
Anoint his eyes,
But do it when the next thing he espies
May be the lady.
25. Clamorous : conspicuously and offensively loud
...some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits.
26. Quaint : strange in an interesting or pleasing way
...some keep back
The clamorous owl that nightly hoots and wonders
At our quaint spirits.
27. Nigh : near in time or place or relationship
Never harm
Nor spell nor charm
Come our lovely lady nigh.
So good night, with lullaby.
28. Sentinel : a person employed to keep watch for some anticipated event
One aloof stand sentinel.
In this line, aloof literally means "apart from others."
29. Languish : lose vigor, health, or flesh, as through grief
What thou seest when thou dost wake
Do it for thy true love take.
Love and languish for his sake.
30. Dissemble : behave unnaturally or affectedly
What wicked and dissembling glass of mine
Made me compare with Hermia’s sphery eyne?
31. Tedious : so lacking in interest as to cause mental weariness
Content with Hermia? No, I do repent
The tedious minutes I with her have spent.
32. Flout : laugh at with contempt and derision
s ’t not enough, is ’t not enough, young man,
That I did never, no, nor never can
Deserve a sweet look from Demetrius’ eye,
But you must flout my insufficiency?
33. Surfeit : the state of being more than full
For, as a surfeit of the sweetest things
The deepest loathing to the stomach brings,
Or as the heresies that men do leave
Are hated most of those they did deceive,
So thou, my surfeit and my heresy,
Of all be hated, but the most of me!
34. Swoon : pass out from weakness or physical or emotional distress
I swoon almost with fear.—
