William Shakespeare Language, Vocabulary and Dictionary
William Shakespeare Dictionary
VADE to fade VAIL to lower VAILING lowering VAINNESS vanity VALANCED adorned with a valence or fringe often applied to the beard VALIDITY value VANTAGE advantage VANTBRACE armour for the front of the arm VARLET a servant, valet VAST A gulf VASTIDITY immensity VASTLY like a waste VASTY vast, waste VAUNT precedes VAUNT-COURIERS forerunners VAWARD the van, vanguard, advanced guard of an army, the first of anything VEGETIVES herbs VELURE velvet VELVET-GUARDS literally velvet trimmings applied metaphorically to the citizens who wore them VENEW a bout in fencing, metaphorically applied to repartee and sallies of wit
VENEY a bout at fencing VENGE to avenge VENTAGES holes in a flute or flageolet VERBAL wordy VERY true, real VIA off with you! VICE to screw, the buffoon in old morality plays VIE to challenge, a term at cards, to play as for a wager VIEWLESS invisible VILLAIN a lowborn man VINEWED mouldy VIOL-DE-GAMBOYS a bass viol VIRGINALLING playing as on the virginals, a kind of a spinet VIRTUE the essential excellence valour VIRTUOUS excellent, endowed with virtues VIZAMENT advisement VOLUBLE fickle VOLUNTARY volunteer VOTARIST votary, one who has taken a vow VULGAR the common people VULGARLY publicly
Interpreting Elizabethan / Shakespearean Manuscripts and Original Documents
Vital, but little known, information about the Elizabethan alphabet is essential when looking at copies of original manuscripts of the period - examples of which can be found in Shakespeare's ' First Folio '. Learning the alphabet used during the Elizabethan era will no doubt clarify many questions that the differences of the Tudor / Elizabethan alphabet have raised such as "Couldn't Elizabethans spell properly?" and "Why is there so much confusion with the letters 'u' and 'v' and 'i' and 'j' ?Shakespeare translations and understanding the real meanings behind some of the Shakespeare language in the great plays and sonnets can be difficult. And this is hardly surprising when the expressions and their meanings have been obsolete since the Elizabethan era!
