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Henry V: Act V

During the Hundred Years' War, King Henry V decides to invade France. Read the full text here.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act I, Act II, Act III, Act IV, Act V
35 words 36 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

  1. athwart
    across, especially at an oblique angle
    There seen,
    Heave him away upon your wingèd thoughts
    Athwart the sea.
  2. plebeian
    one of the common people
    The Mayor and all his brethren in best sort,
    Like to the senators of th’ antique Rome,
    With the plebeians swarming at their heels,
    Go forth and fetch their conqu’ring Caesar
  3. interim
    the time between one event, process, or period and another
    There must we bring him, and myself have played
    The interim, by remembering you ’tis past.
  4. brook
    put up with something or somebody unpleasant
    Then brook abridgment, and your eyes advance
    After your thoughts, straight back again to France.
  5. contention
    a dispute where there is strong disagreement
    It was in a place where I could not breed no contention with him, but I will be so bold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again, and then I will tell him a little piece of my desires.
  6. scurvy
    of the most contemptible kind
    God pless you, Aunchient Pistol, you scurvy, lousy knave, God pless you.
  7. bedlam
    a state of extreme confusion and disorder
    Ha, art thou bedlam? Dost thou thirst, base Trojan, to have me fold up Parca’s fatal web? Hence. I am qualmish at the smell of leek.
    Bedlam means "mad" or "frenzied" in this line.
  8. base
    having or showing an ignoble lack of honor or morality
    Ha, art thou bedlam? Dost thou thirst, base Trojan, to have me fold up Parca’s fatal web? Hence. I am qualmish at the smell of leek.
  9. cudgel
    a club that is used as a weapon
    Strikes him with a cudgel.
  10. victuals
    a source of food or nourishment
    I will desire you to live in the meantime and eat your victuals.
  11. ambiguity
    unclearness by virtue of having more than one meaning
    Yes, certainly, and out of doubt and out of question, too, and ambiguities.
  12. verily
    in truth; certainly
    Yes, verily, and in truth you shall take it, or I have another leek in my pocket, which you shall eat.
  13. predecease
    die before; die earlier than
    Will you mock at an ancient tradition begun upon an honorable respect and worn as a memorable trophy of predeceased valor, and dare not avouch in your deeds any of your words?
  14. garb
    clothing of a distinctive style or for a particular occasion
    You thought because he could not speak English in the native garb, he could not therefore handle an English cudgel.
    Garb here most nearly means "style."
  15. malady
    impairment of normal physiological function
    News have I that my Doll is dead i’ th’ spital of a malady of France, and there my rendezvous is quite cut off.
  16. contrive
    make or work out a plan for; devise
    Joy and good wishes
    To our most fair and princely cousin Katherine.—
    And, as a branch and member of this royalty,
    By whom this great assembly is contrived,
    We do salute you, Duke of Burgundy.
  17. wax
    increase, rise, or advance
    Old I do wax, and from my weary limbs honor is cudgeled.
  18. hitherto
    up to this point; until the present time
    So happy be the issue, brother Ireland,
    Of this good day and of this gracious meeting,
    As we are now glad to behold your eyes—
    Your eyes which hitherto have borne in them
    Against the French that met them in their bent
    The fatal balls of murdering basilisks.
  19. endeavor
    a purposeful or industrious undertaking
    That I have labored
    With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavors
    To bring your most imperial Majesties
    Unto this bar and royal interview,
    Your Mightiness on both parts best can witness.
  20. impediment
    something immaterial that interferes with action or progress
    ...let it not disgrace me
    If I demand before this royal view
    What rub or what impediment there is
    Why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace,
    Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
    Should not in this best garden of the world,
    Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
  21. visage
    the appearance conveyed by a person's face
    ...let it not disgrace me
    If I demand before this royal view
    What rub or what impediment there is
    Why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace,
    Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
    Should not in this best garden of the world,
    Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
  22. husbandry
    the practice of cultivating the land or raising stock
    Alas, she hath from France too long been chased,
    And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
    Corrupting in its own fertility.
  23. fallow
    left unplowed and unseeded during a growing season
    Her fallow leas
    The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory
    Doth root upon, while that the coulter rusts
    That should deracinate such savagery.
  24. rank
    growing profusely
    The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
    The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,
    Wanting the scythe, withal uncorrected, rank,
    Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems
    But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burrs,
    Losing both beauty and utility.
  25. idleness
    the trait of being inactive or lazy
    The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
    The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,
    Wanting the scythe, withal uncorrected, rank,
    Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems
    But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burrs,
    Losing both beauty and utility.
  26. teem
    be full of or abuzz with
    The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
    The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,
    Wanting the scythe, withal uncorrected, rank,
    Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems
    But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burrs,
    Losing both beauty and utility.
  27. tenor
    the general meaning or substance of an utterance
    If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,
    Whose want gives growth to th’ imperfections
    Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
    With full accord to all our just demands,
    Whose tenors and particular effects
    You have, enscheduled briefly, in your hands.
  28. peremptory
    not allowing contradiction or refusal
    Pleaseth your Grace
    To appoint some of your council presently
    To sit with us once more with better heed
    To resurvey them, we will suddenly
    Pass our accept and peremptory answer.
  29. woo
    make amorous advances towards
    I’ faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding.
  30. mince
    make less severe or harsh
    I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say “I love you.”
  31. buffet
    strike, beat repeatedly
    Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher and sit like a jackanapes, never off.
    In this line, buffet means "engage in a fight."
  32. jackanapes
    someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
    Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher and sit like a jackanapes, never off.
  33. eloquence
    powerful and effective language
    But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation, only downright oaths, which I never use till urged, nor never break for urging.
  34. prate
    speak about unimportant matters rapidly and incessantly
    A speaker is but a prater, a rhyme is but a ballad, a good leg will fall, a straight back will stoop, a black beard will turn white...
  35. moiety
    one of two approximately equal parts
    Do but now promise, Kate, you will endeavor for your French part of such a boy; and for my English moiety, take the word of a king and a bachelor.
Created on Fri Feb 28 12:32:54 EST 2020 (updated Thu Mar 05 13:30:18 EST 2020)

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