All's Well That Ends Well: Act 3

by William Shakespeare
Helena, the ward of a countess, falls in love with the countess's son, Bertram — but Bertram goes to great lengths to avoid marrying Helena.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. surfeit
    become sickeningly sweet or excessive
    But I am sure the younger of our nation,
    That surfeit on their ease, will day by day
    Come here for physic.
  2. troth
    a solemn pledge of fidelity
    By my troth, I take my young lord to be a very melancholy man.
  3. observance
    the act of noticing or paying attention
    FOOL: By my troth, I take my young lord to be a very melancholy man.
    COUNTESS: By what observance, I pray you?
  4. unbridled
    not restrained or controlled
    This is not well, rash and unbridled boy:
    To fly the favors of so good a king,
    To pluck his indignation on thy head
    By the misprizing of a maid too virtuous
    For the contempt of empire.
  5. indignation
    a feeling of righteous anger
    This is not well, rash and unbridled boy:
    To fly the favors of so good a king,
    To pluck his indignation on thy head
    By the misprizing of a maid too virtuous
    For the contempt of empire.
  6. begotten
    generated by procreation
    When thou canst get the ring upon my finger, which never shall come off, and show me a child begotten of thy body that I am father to, then call me husband.
  7. moiety
    a part or portion of something
    If thou engrossest all the griefs are thine,
    Thou robb’st me of a moiety.
  8. induce
    cause to act in a specified manner
    My son corrupts a well-derivèd nature
    With his inducement.
  9. sportive
    given to merry frolicking
    And is it I
    That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou
    Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
    Of smoky muskets?
  10. auspicious
    indicating favorable circumstances and good luck
    Then go thou forth,
    And Fortune play upon thy prosperous helm
    As thy auspicious mistress.
  11. pilgrim
    someone who journeys to a sacred place as an act of devotion
    I am Saint Jaques’ pilgrim, thither gone.
  12. plod
    walk heavily and firmly, as when weary, or through mud
    Ambitious love hath so in me offended
    That barefoot plod I the cold ground upon,
    With sainted vow my faults to have amended.
  13. fervor
    feelings of great warmth and intensity
    Bless him at home in peace, whilst I from far
    His name with zealous fervor sanctify.
  14. courtly
    refined or imposing in manner or appearance
    His taken labors bid him me forgive;
    I, his despiteful Juno, sent him forth
    From courtly friends, with camping foes to live
    Where death and danger dogs the heels of worth.
  15. reprieve
    postpone the punishment of a convicted criminal
    He cannot thrive
    Unless her prayers, whom heaven delights to hear
    And loves to grant, reprieve him from the wrath
    Of greatest justice.
  16. hark
    listen; used mostly in the imperative
    Hark,
    you may know by their trumpets.
  17. knave
    a deceitful and unreliable scoundrel
    I know that knave, hang him!
  18. wrack
    the destruction or collapse of something
    Many a maid hath been seduced by them; and the misery is example that so terrible shows in the wrack of maidenhood cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threatens them.
  19. dissuade
    turn away from by persuasion
    Many a maid hath been seduced by them; and the misery is example that so terrible shows in the wrack of maidenhood cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threatens them.
  20. tarry
    stay longer than you should
    If you will tarry, holy pilgrim,
    But till the troops come by,
    I will conduct you where you shall be lodged,
    The rather for I think I know your hostess
    As ample as myself.
  21. jackanapes
    someone who is unimportant but cheeky and presumptuous
    That jackanapes with scarves. Why is he melancholy?
  22. vexed
    troubled persistently especially with petty annoyances
    He’s shrewdly vexed at something.
  23. penitent
    a person who repents for wrongdoing
    Of enjoined penitents
    There’s four or five, to Great Saint Jaques bound,
    Already at my house.
  24. requite
    make repayment for or return something
    And to requite you further,
    I will bestow some precepts of this virgin
    Worthy the note.
  25. precept
    a doctrine that is taught
    And to requite you further,
    I will bestow some precepts of this virgin
    Worthy the note.
  26. repose
    put or place something (e.g., trust) in or on
    It were fit you knew him, lest, reposing too far in his virtue, which he hath not, he might at some great and trusty business in a main danger fail you.
  27. hinder
    be an obstacle to
    O, for the love of laughter, hinder not the honor of his design. Let him fetch off his drum in any hand.
  28. disposition
    your usual mood
    How now, monsieur? This drum sticks sorely in your disposition.
  29. rend
    tear or be torn violently
    There was excellent command, to charge in with our horse upon our own wings and to rend our own soldiers!
  30. magnanimous
    noble and generous in spirit
    If you think your mystery in stratagem can bring this instrument of honor again into his native quarter, be magnanimous in the enterprise and go on.
  31. wanton
    indulgent in immoral or improper behavior
    The Count he woos your daughter,
    Lays down his wanton siege before her beauty,
    Resolved to carry her.
  32. persevere
    be persistent, refuse to stop
    Instruct my daughter how she shall persever
    That time and place with this deceit so lawful
    May prove coherent.
  33. chide
    scold or reprimand severely or angrily
    It nothing steads us
    To chide him from our eaves, for he persists
    As if his life lay on ’t.
  34. eaves
    the overhang at the lower edge of a roof
    It nothing steads us
    To chide him from our eaves, for he persists
    As if his life lay on ’t.
  35. assay
    an appraisal of the state of affairs
    Why then tonight
    Let us assay our plot, which, if it speed,
    Is wicked meaning in a lawful deed,
    And lawful meaning in a lawful act,
    Where both not sin, and yet a sinful fact.
Created on Thu Apr 15 15:23:35 EDT 2021 (updated Mon Apr 26 15:33:40 EDT 2021)

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