Vocab. Archive

Vocabulary list for Macbeth I

Beguile (v).  1. trans. To entangle or over-reach with guile; to delude, deceive, cheat.

  2. To win the attention or interest of (any one) by wiling means; to charm, divert, amuse; to wile (one) on, or into any course.

Consort (v).  1. trans. To accompany, keep company with; to escort, attend. Obs.

Equivocate (v)   . intr. To use a word in more than one application or sense; to use words of double meaning; to deal in ambiguities. Obs.

Flaunt (v).     trans. To display ostentatiously or obtrusively; to flourish, parade, show off.

Flout (v).      trans. To mock, jeer, insult; to express contempt for, either in word or action.

Harbinger (n).  One that goes before and announces the approach of some one; a forerunner. Mostly in transf. and fig. senses, and in literary language.

Knell (n).    The sound made by a bell when struck or rung, esp. the sound of a bell rung slowly and solemnly, as immediately after a death or at a funeral.

Mettle (n).  A person's spirit; courage, strength of character; vigour, spiritedness, vivacity.

Minion (n).  1. a. Originally: a (usually male) favourite of a sovereign, prince, or other powerful person; a person who is dependent on a patron's favour; a hanger-on. In later use (without the connotation ‘favoured’): a follower or underling, esp. one who is servile or unimportant; a servant, officer, subordinate, assistant; a henchman.

Objective Correlative (n).   The physical equivalent or manifestation of an immaterial thing or abstract idea; spec. (and usually, following T. S. Eliot) the technique in art of representing or evoking a particular emotion by means of symbols, which become associated with and indicative of that emotion.

Pall (n).  A cloth, usually of black, purple, or white velvet, spread over a coffin, hearse, or tomb. Also: a shroud for a corpse.

Palpable (adj.).  1.      1. a. That may be touched, felt, or handled; perceptible by the sense of touch; tangible.
  palpable hit n. a solid blow, a forceful hit to the body 2.  Readily perceptible by a sense other than touch; plainly observable; noticeable.

Paradox (n).     1. a. A statement or tenet contrary to received opinion or belief, esp. one that is difficult to believe.   2. a. An apparently absurd or self-contradictory statement or proposition, or a strongly counter-intuitive one, which investigation, analysis, or explanation may nevertheless prove to be well-founded or true.

Plight (n).      1. a. In negative sense: an unfortunate condition or state.
  Now the usual sense. In early use often with modifying word, as evil, sorry, woeful, but in modern usage almost always having negative connotations even without modifier.

Rapt (adj.).  Transported with some emotion, ravished, enraptured.

Surfeit (n).      1. Excess, superfluity; excessive amount or supply of something.