A-Z of Shakespeare – W

 

Today’s Shakespearean word of the day is… weeds

W- weeds

Unfortunately there is no entry for X in the Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary so we are moving on straight to W!

Weeds are garments. In A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Puck sees Lysander: ‘Weeds of Athens he doth wear’ (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2.2.77).

‘Weed’ (in the sense of ‘garment’) is usually found as a plural, but occasionally it is a singular: Oberon describes a shedded snakeskin as ‘Weed wide enough to wrap a fairy in’ (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 2.1.256).

 

Shakespeare Dictionary _130This definition is taken from the Oxford Illustrated Shakespeare Dictionary, a unique dictionary to unlock the mysteries of Shakespeare’s world, words and language, compiled by renowned English language expert David Crystal and Shakespearean actor and producer Ben Crystal.