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William Shakespeare 
Language, Vocabulary and Dictionary

William Shakespeare the Great Bard of Stratford

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William Shakespeare Dictionary

SACRIFICIAL 
reverent, as words used in religious worship 
SACRING-BELL 
the little bell rung at mass
SAD 
serious 
SADLY 
seriously 
SADNESS 
seriousness 
SAG 
to hang down 
SALT 
lascivious, taste 
SANDED 
marked with yellow spots 
SANS 
without 
SAUCY 
lascivious 
SAW 
a moral saying 
SAY 
silken 
SAY 
assay, taste, relish 
SCAFFOLDAGE 
the gallery of a theatre 
SCALD 
scurvy, scabby 
SCALE 
to weigh in scales 
SCALL 
a scab, a word of reproach 
SCAMBLE 
to scramble 
SCAMEL 
sea-mew 
SCAN 
to examine subtly 
SCANT 
to cut short, to spare 
SCANT 
scanty, short scarcely 
SCANTLING 
a small portion 
SCAPE 
to escape 
SCATHE 
to injure 
SCATHFUL 
destructive 
SCONCE 
the head 
SCOTCH 
to bruise or cut slightly 
SCRIMER 
a fencer 
SCROYLE 
a scabby fellow 
SCULL 
a shoal of fish 
SCURVY 
scabby; metaph. mean 
SEAL 
to set one's seal to a deed, to confirm 
SEAM 
fat 
SEAMY 
showing the seam or sewing 
SEAR 
scorched, withered 
SEAR 
to stigmatise 
SEARCH 
to probe, to apply a healing remedy 
SEATED 
fixed, confirmed 
SECT 
a slip or scion, a political party 
SECURELY 
inconsiderately 
SEEL 
to close 
SEELING 
closing, blinding 
SEEMING 
seemly, becomingly 
SEEN 
versed, instructed 
SELD 
seldom 
SELF-BOUNTY 
native goodness 
SEMBLABLY 
alike 
SENIORY 
seniority 
SENNET 
a flourish of trumpets 
SEPULCHRE 
to bury 
SEQUESTRATION 
separation 
SERE 
dry 
SERJEANT 
a bailiff 
SERPIGO 
a cutaneous disease 
SETEBOS 
the name of a fiend 
SETTER 
one who watches travellers to give information to thieves 
SEVERAL 
land which is not common but appropriated 
SHARDS 
shreds, broken fragments of pottery 
SHARKED 
snatched up, as a shark does his prey 
SHEEN 
brilliancy 
SHEER 
pure Unmixed 
SHENT 
rebuked, blamed, hurt 
SHERIFF'S-POST 
a post at the door of a sheriff, to which royal proclamations were fixed 
SHIVE 
slice 
SHOT 
the reckoning at an ale-house 
SHOUGHS 
shaggy dogs 
SHOULDERED 
plunged 
SHOVEL-BOARD 
game played by sliding metal pieces along a board at a mark 
SHREWD 
mischievous 
SHRIFT 
confession, absolution 
SHRIVE 
to confess 
SHRIVING-TIME 
time for confession 
SHROUD 
to enshroud oneself, cover oneself up 
SIDE-SLEEVES 
loose hanging sleeves 
SIGHT 
an aperture in a helmet 
SIGHTLESS 
invisible, unsightly 
SIGN 
to give an omen 
SILLY 
simple, rustic 
SIMULAR 
counterfeit, feigned 
SINGLE 
feeble 
SIR 
a title applied to a bachelor of arts at the Universities 
SITH 
since 
SITHENCE 
since 
SIZES 
allowances 
SKAINS-MATES 
scapegraces 
SKILL 
to be of importance 
SKILLESS 
ignorant 
SKIMBLE-SKAMBLE 
rambling, disjointed 
SKINKER 
a drawer of liquor 
SKIRR 
to scour 
SLEAVE 
floss-silk 
SLEDDED 
sledged 
SLEIDED 
untwisted, raw, applied to silk
SLEIGHTS 
artifices 
SLIPS 
a noose, or area of tournamont
SLIVER 
to slice 
SLOPS 
loose breeches 
SLUBBER 
to slur over 
SMIRCHED 
smeared, soiled 
SMOOTH 
to flatter 
SNEAP 
taunt, sarcasm 
SNEAPED 
pinched 
SNECK-UP 
go hang
SNUFF 
anger, 'To take in snuff' is to take offence 
SOFTLY 
gently 
SOIL 
spot, taint 
SOLICIT 
solicitation 
SOLIDARE 
a small coin 
SOLVE 
solution 
SOMETIMES 
formerly 
SOOTH 
truth, conciliation 
SOOTH 
true 
SOREL 
a buck of the third year 
SORRIEST 
most sorrowful 
SORRY 
sorrowful, dismal 
SORT 
a company Rank
SORT 
to choose, to suit, to consort 
SOT 
fool 
SOUL-FEARING 
soul-terrifying 
SOWL 
to lug, drag 
SOWTER 
name of a dog 
SPECIALLY 
a special contract 
SPED 
settled, done for 
SPEED 
fortune 
SPERR 
to bolt, fasten 
SPIAL 
spy 
SPILL 
to destroy 
SPILTH 
spilling 
SPLEEN 
violent haste Used of the lightning flash 
SPRAG 
quick 
SPRING 
shoot
SPRINGHALT 
a disease of horses 
SPRITED 
haunted 
SQUARE 
to quarrel, the front part of a woman's dress, stomacher 
SQUARE 
equitable 
SQUARER 
quarreller 
SQUASH 
an unripe peascod 
SQUIER 
a square or rule 
SQUINY 
to squint 
STAGGERS 
a disease in horses attended with giddiness
STAIN 
to disfigure 
STALE 
a decoy, a gull, a prostitute 
STALE 
to make stale, deprive anything of its freshness 
STAND UPON 
to be incumbent on 
STANIEL 
an inferior kind of hawk 
STARK 
stiff 
STARKLY 
stiffly 
STATE 
a canopied chair 
STATION 
attitude, act of standing 
STATIST 
a statesman 
STATUA 
a statue 
STATUE 
image, picture 
STATUTE 
security, obligation 
STATUTE-CAPS 
woollen caps worn by citizens 
STAY 
a cheque 
STEAD 
to profit 
STEELED 
set or fixed 
STERNAGE 
steerage, course 
STICKLER 
an arbitrator in combats 
STIGMATIC 
a deformed person 
STIGMATICAL 
deformed 
STILL 
constant 
STILLY 
softly 
STINT 
to stop to stop 
STITHY 
a smith's forge 
STITHY 
to forge 
STOCCADO 
a stoccata, or thrust in fencing 
STOCK 
a stocking 
STOMACH 
courage, appetite, inclination 
STONE-BOW 
a cross-bow for throwing stones 
STOUP 
a cup 
STOUT 
strong, healthy 
STOVER 
fodder 
STRAIGHT 
immediately 
STRAIN 
lineage, disposition 
STRAITED 
straitened 
STRANGE 
foreign 
STRANGENESS 
coyness, reserve 
STRANGER 
foreigner 
STRAPPADO 
a kind of punishment 
STRICTURE 
strictness 
STROSSERS 
trowsers 
STUCK 
a thrust of a sword 
STUCK IN 
corruption of stoccata 
STUFF 
baggage material, substance 
STUFFED 
filled, stored 
STY 
to lodge as in a sty 
SUBSCRIBE 
to yield, to succumb 
SUCCESS 
issue, consequence
SUCCESSIVE 
succeeding 
SUCCESSIVELY 
in succession 
SUDDEN 
hasty, rash 
SUDDENLY 
hastily 
SUFFERANCE 
suffering 
SUGGEST 
to tempt, entice 
SUGGESTION 
temptation, enticement 
SUITED 
dressed 
SULLEN 
doleful, melancholy 
SUMPTER 
a horse that carries provisions on a journey 
SUPPOSE 
a trick, imposition 
SUPPOSED 
counterfeit 
SURCEASE 
to cease 
SURPRISE 
to capture by surprise 
SUR-REINED 
over-worked 
SUSPECT 
suspicion 
SUSPIRE 
to breathe 
SWABBER 
a sweeper of the deck of a ship 
SWARTH 
black, quantity of grass cut down by one sweep of the scythe 
SWASHER 
swaggerer 
SWASHING 
dashing, smashing 
SWATHLING 
swaddling 
SWAY 
to move on 
SWEAR 
to adjure 
SWEAR OVER 
to out-swear 
SWIFT 
ready, quick 
SWINGE-BUCKLER 
a bully 

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!


William Shakespeare Education - the Elizabethan Alphabet - Differences only 24 letters - Deciphering manuscripts of the era

William Shakespeare - Language, Vocabulary and Dictionary

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