Hamlet Vocabulary List Act I Flashcards
usurp (v.)
seize or take control without authority/by force
“What art thou that usurp’st this time of night”
portentous (adj.)
significant; momentous; indicating a warning about the future
“Well may it sort that this portentous figure/Comes armed through our watch”
harbinger (n.)
a sign that something is about to happen
“As harbingers preceding still the fates/And prologue to the omen coming on”
hallowed (adj.)
sacred; holy
“So hallow’d and so gracious is the time…”
auspicious (adj.)
indicating favorable circumstances and good fortune
“With an auspicious and a dropping eye”
obsequious (adj.)
eager to please in a way that does not seem sincere
“To do obsequious sorrow: but to persevere/In obstinate condolement is course/Of impious stubbornness”
jocund (adj.)
happy; cheerful
“No jocund health that Denmark drinks to-day”
truant (n.)
absent without permission
“A truant disposition, good my lord”
countenance (n.)
facial expression
“A countenance more in sorrow than in anger”
tenable (adj.)
based on sound reasoning or evidence; plausible; rational
“Let it be tenable in your silence still”
prodigal (adj.)
recklessly wasteful
“The chariest maid is prodigal enough”
libertine (n.)
someone who behaves in an immoral way, especially in relationships
“Whiles, like a puff’d and reckless libertine,/Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,/And wrecks not his own rede”
unfledged (adj.)
young; inexperienced
“Of each new-hatch’d, unfledged comrade”
censure (n.)
harsh criticism or disapproval
“Take each man’s censure, but reserve thy judgment”
beguile (v.)
entice; charm; attract
“Breathing like sanctified and pious bawds,/The better to beguile”
