“Hamlet,” Vocabulary from Act 4

providence prudence and care exercised in the management of resourcesIt will be laid to us, whose providence Should have kept short, restrain’d and out of haunt, This mad young man.
discord lack of agreement or harmonyMy soul is full of discord and dismay.
kin related by bloodCompounded it with dust, whereto ’tis kin.
scourge whipHe’s loved of the distracted multitude, Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes; And where tis so, the offender’s scourge is weigh’d, But never the offence.
convocation a group gathered in response to a summonsNot where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain convocation of politic worms are e’en at him.
conveyance the act of moving something from one location to anotherTell him that, by his licence, Fortinbras Craves the conveyance of a promised march Over his kingdom.
garrison the troops who maintain and guard a fortified placeYes, it is already garrison’d.
bestial resembling a beast; showing lack of human sensibilityNow, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event, A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward, I do not know Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’
scruple an ethical or moral principle that inhibits actionNow, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event, A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward, I do not know Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’
exhort force or impel in an indicated directionExamples gross as earth exhort me.
craven lacking even the rudiments of courage; abjectly fearfulNow, whether it be Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple Of thinking too precisely on the event, A thought which, quarter’d, hath but one part wisdom And ever three parts coward, I do not know Why yet I live to say ‘This thing’s to do;’
importunate making persistent or urgent requestsShe is importunate, indeed distract.
conjecture a hypothesis that has been formed by speculating’Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.
conceit an elaborate poetic image comparing very dissimilar thingsConceit upon her father.
inter place in a grave or tombFirst, her father slain: Next, your son gone; and he most violent author Of his own just remove: the people muddied, Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers, For good Polonius’ death; and we have done but greenly, In hugger-mugger to inter him.
superfluous more than is needed, desired, or requiredO my dear Gertrude, this, Like to a murdering-piece, in many places Gives me superfluous death.
impetuous marked by violent forceThe ocean, overpeering of his list, Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste Than young Laertes, in a riotous head O’erbears your officers.
riotous characterized by unrest or disorder or insubordinationThe ocean, overpeering of his list, Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste Than young Laertes, in a riotous head, O’erbears your officers.
antiquity the historic period preceding the Middle Ages in EuropeThe rabble call him lord; And, as the world were now but to begin, Antiquity forgot, custom not known, The ratifiers and props of every word, They cry ‘Choose we: Laertes shall be king:’
incensed angered at something unjust or wrongTell me, Laertes, Why thou art thus incensed.
repast the food served and eaten at one timeTo his good friends thus wide I’ll ope my arms; And like the kind life-rendering pelican, Repast them with my blood.
gallant a man who is much concerned with his dress and appearanceI’ve seen myself, and served against, the French, And they can well on horseback: but this gallant Had witchcraft in’t; he grew unto his seat; And to such wondrous doing brought his horse, As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured With the brave beast:
abatement an interruption in the intensity or amount of somethingThat we would do We should do when we would; for this ‘would’ changes And hath abatements and delays as many As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;
remiss failing in what duty requiresHe, being remiss, Most generous and free from all contriving, Will not peruse the foils.
mountebank a flamboyant deceiverI bought an unction of a mountebank, So mortal that, but dip a knife in it, Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare, Collected from all simples that have virtue Under the moon, can save the thing from death That is but scratch’d withal
July 14, 2019