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Full Glossary
surcease cease; stop.
sweetmeats any sweet food or delicacy prepared with sugar or honey.
tackled stair rope ladder.
Taking the measure of an unmade grave Romeo is lying on the ground in despair.
tarry for wait for.
tassel-gentle from "tiercel," a falconry term for a male hawk, especially the male peregrine.
tempering . . . extreme sweet mixing the difficulties facing Romeo and Juliet's relationship with love. Tempering refers to the process used to make steel, and here it is implied that Romeo and Juliet's love is strengthened by the obstacles they face as members of opposing families.
tetchy touchy; irritable; peevish.
to associate me to accompany me.
to fleer to laugh derisively (at); sneer or jeer (at).
to raise a spirit in his mistresses circle Mercutio puns on circle as both the magician's magic circle and the female genitalia.
toy triviality.
transparent heretics Romeo says that if he saw another woman more beautiful than Rosaline his tears would turn to fire and burn his eyes as "transparent heretics" for lying.
trencher a wooden board or platter on which to carve or serve meat.
tributary paying tribute.
tried proved.
trow think.
truckle-bed a low bed on small wheels or casters, that can be rolled under another bed when not in use.
true shrift confession.
tutor me from quarrelling teach me how to avoid getting into a quarrel.
two hours traffic the usual duration of a play.
unaccustomed spirit unusually high spirits.
unattainted unprejudiced.
uneven is the course the decision is arbitrary and one-sided.
unfurnish'd unprepared, without supplies.
unmann'd untrained; also, as yet husbandless.
unthrifty unlucky.
use are accustomed to.
usurer . . . usest . . . use indeed alliterative puns on "usury" and "use": Romeo is not putting his talents to their proper use.
utters sells.
vain fantasy misleading flights of imagination. This is how Mercutio perceives love.
validity value or worth.
vanity earthly pleasures or happiness.
virtues qualities.
visor mask.
waggoner driver.
wanny pale.
wanton's bird that is, the pet of an undisciplined, spoiled child.
weeds garments; clothing.
we'll not carry coals an old-fashioned saying, which meant to submit to insults.
well-apparell'd April clothed or adorned with images of new growth associated with the spring, such as leaves and blossom. Contrast with "limping winter."
when King . . . lov'd the beggar maid a 16th-century ballad.
wherefore why?
wink close and be unable to see.
winking turning a blind eye to.
world's exile Romeo feels exiled from the world.
wrought arranged for.
you have been a mouse-hunt in your tim you have chased after women in your youth. "Mouse" was an amorous term for a woman and here suggests the image of a cat prowling after a mouse.
you kiss by th'book that is, according to convention.
young cockerel's stone young rooster's testicle.
zounds an oath. The abbreviated form of the oath "By God's wounds."