Part IV, Chapter 22: "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by William Shakespeare, Act 4

In this comedy, two Athenian couples and a troupe of actors become unwitting pawns in a squabble between a fairy king and queen.

Here are links to our lists for the play: Act 1, Act 2, Act 3, Act 4, Act 5
25 words 2 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. amiable
    disposed to please
    Come sit thee down upon this flow’ry bed,
    While I thy amiable cheeks do coy,
    And stick musk-roses in thy sleek smooth head,
    And kiss thy fair large ears, my gentle joy.
  2. loath
    strongly opposed
    Do not fret yourself too much in the action, monsieur: and good monsieur have a care the honey-bag break not, I would be loath to have you overflowen with a honey-bag, signior.
  3. provender
    food for domestic livestock
    Truly, a peck of provender. I could munch your good dry oats. Methinks I have a great desire to a bottle of hay. Good hay, sweet hay, hath no fellow.
  4. hoard
    a secret store of valuables or money
    I have a venturous fairy that shall seek
    The squirrel’s hoard, and fetch thee new nuts.
  5. dote
    shower with love; show excessive affection for
    O how I love thee! how I dote on thee!
  6. upbraid
    express criticism towards
    For meeting her of late behind the wood,
    Seeking sweet favours for this hateful fool,
    I did upbraid her and fall out with her.
  7. bewail
    express sorrow or regret about something
    And that same dew which sometime on the buds
    Was wont to swell like round and orient pearls,
    Stood now within the pretty flowerets’ eyes,
    Like tears that did their own disgrace bewail.
  8. enamored
    marked by foolish or unreasoning fondness
    My Oberon, what visions have I seen!
    Methought I was enamoured of an ass.
  9. visage
    the human face
    O, how mine eyes do loathe his visage now!
  10. amity
    a state of friendship and cordiality
    Now thou and I are new in amity,
    And will tomorrow midnight solemnly
    Dance in Duke Theseus’ house triumphantly,
    And bless it to all fair prosperity.
  11. rite
    any customary observance or practice
    No doubt they rose up early to observe
    The rite of May: and hearing our intent,
    Came here in grace of our solemnity.
  12. concord
    a harmonious state of things and of their properties
    I know you two are rival enemies.
    How comes this gentle concord in the world,
    That hatred is so far from jealousy
    To sleep by hate and fear no enmity?
  13. enmity
    a state of deep-seated ill-will
    I know you two are rival enemies.
    How comes this gentle concord in the world,
    That hatred is so far from jealousy
    To sleep by hate and fear no enmity?
  14. hither
    to this place
    I came with Hermia hither. Our intent
    Was to be gone from Athens, where we might,
    Without the peril of the Athenian law—
  15. idle
    silly or trivial
    But, my good lord, I wot not by what power
    (But by some power it is) my love to Hermia,
    Melted as the snow, seems to me now
    As the remembrance of an idle gaud,
    Which in my childhood I did dote upon
  16. betrothed
    pledged to be married
    To her, my lord,
    Was I betrothed ere I saw Hermia.
  17. loathe
    dislike intensely; feel disgust toward
    But like a sickness, did I loathe this food.
    But as in health, come to my natural taste,
    Now I do wish it, love it, long for it.
  18. expound
    add details to clarify an idea
    I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was. Man is but an ass if he go about to expound this dream.
  19. gracious
    characterized by charm and good taste
    I will get Peter Quince to write a ballad of this dream: it shall be called Bottom’s Dream because it hath no bottom: and I will sing it in the latter end of our play, before the duke. Peradventure, to make it the more gracious, I shall sing it at her death.
  20. mar
    cause to become imperfect
    If he come not, then the play is marred. It goes not forward, doth it?
  21. paramour
    a lover, especially a secret or illicit one
    Yea, and the best person too, and he is a very paramour for a sweet voice.
  22. paragon
    a perfect embodiment of a concept
    You must say “paragon.” A “paramour” is (God bless us) a thing of naught.
  23. discourse
    talk at length and formally about a topic
    Masters, I am to discourse wonders: but ask me not what. For if I tell you, I am not true Athenian. I will tell you everything, right as it fell out.
  24. presently
    at this time or period; now
    Get your apparel together, good strings to your beards, new ribbands to your pumps, meet presently at the palace, every man look o’er his part: for the short and the long is, our play is preferred.
  25. pare
    remove the edges from and cut down to the desired size
    In any case, let Thisby have clean linen, and let not him that plays the lion pare his nails, for they shall hang out for the lion’s claws.
Created on Tue Jun 22 17:00:53 EDT 2021 (updated Thu Jul 22 16:06:41 EDT 2021)

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